hankyoreh

North Korea’s top official for relations with South

By Kim Oi-hyun, staff reporter in Kaesong

North Korea sent condolence flowers and messages in the name of leader Kim Jong-un for the fifth anniversary of former President Kim Dae-jung’s death on Aug. 17. Also, North Korea complained about the government of President Park Geun-hye’s North Korea policies.

Staff from the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center (Chairperson Lee Hee-ho, also Kim Dae-jung’s widow) went to the Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea to receive the condolence flowers and messages. The delegations from South and North met in the conference room of North Korea’s Central Special Zone Development Guidance General Bureau.

The North’s delegation was led by Kim Yang-gon, head of the Workers’ Party of Korea Unified Front Department and secretary for South Korea-related affairs, along with the vice chairman Maeng Kyong-il. New Politics Alliance for Democracy lawmaker Park Ji-won, former Unification Minister Lim Dong-won, and former lawmaker Kim Hong-up, Kim Dae-jung’s second son, were the representatives from the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center.

The condolence flowers had a ribbon with the message that read, “In memory of late former President Kim Dae-jung” on one side and “Kim Jong-un” on the other side. According to Park Ji-won, the message was written on Aug. 14, and read, “We will never forget President Kim’s efforts and services for national reconciliation, cooperation and unification. His achievements will be remembered in the ages to come”.

At the meeting, the North’s delegation expressed complaints about President Park Geun-hye’s North Korea policy. “There should be efforts from both sides … but there is nothing to be welcomed from the South,” the lawmaker Park Ji-won quoted Kim Yang-gon as saying about the South’s positive explanation about Seoul‘s proposal for high-level talks.

“South Korea suggests doing something while mentioning the nuclear issue in the Liberation Day address. I doubt that the suggestion for talks can be realized. Why do you begin South Korea-US joint military exercises at the same time as proposing the second inter-Korean high-level meetings? I cannot understand why the South clamors against our live-fire drills,” said Kim. Kim left some room for later discussion, mentioning that the former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s invitation of the chairperson Lee Hee-ho is “still valid.”

Kim Yang-gon handles relations with the South, but he has not met anyone from South Korea in person since 2009. Kim visited the South in August of 2009 when Kim Dae-jung died as a member of a delegation to pay condolences for his death, with Workers’ Party of Korea Secretary of Publicity and Information Kim Ki-nam. That was the first time that North Korea had sent condolence flowers and messages during the mourning period for a South Korean political leader. North Koreans consider years ending with zero or five as meaningful, say experts.

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