hankyoreh

By Ha Eo-young, staff reporter

A group of politicians are planning to visit Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea on Aug. 17 to receive condolence flowers for the fifth anniversary of former President Kim Dae-jung’s death (Aug. 18).

The group includes New Politics Alliance for Democracy lawmaker Park Ji-won, former Unification Minister Lim Dong-won, and former lawmaker Kim Hong-up.

“We were contacted indirectly [by North Korea] on Aug. 14, and after coordinating our schedule with the Ministry of Unification, we’re set to visit Kaesong at 5 pm on Aug. 17,” said Park in a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh.

“We’re traveling with former Unification Minister Lim Dong-won, the former lawmaker Kim Hong-up, who’s Kim Dae-jung’s second son, and staff from the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center,” he added.

The Ministry of Unification sent a notice in the name of the Peace Center to North Korea’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee on the morning of Aug. 15 via its communication channels in Panmunjeom. The person coming to the complex to present the flowers is reportedly Kim Yang-gon, head of the Workers’ Party of Korea Unified Front Department and secretary for South Korea-related affairs.

“After the South Korean government proposed high-level talks and began preparations for the Asian Games and various other events, the North Koreans contacted us first to respectfully express plans to send condolence flowers,” Park said.

“That was how Lim Dong-won and I ended up going,” he added. “Hopefully, the fifth-anniversary condolence flowers can speak for themselves.”

Park was a special envoy for the inter-Korean summit between Kim Dae-jung and then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on June 15, 2000, while Lim played an instrumental role in setting up the talks as head of the National Intelligence Service during Kim’s presidency.

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