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S. Korea's ex-first lady not to deliver gov't message to DPRK

Xinhua, August 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

The widow of late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung will not deliver a government message to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) during her four- day travel to Pyongyang this week, the Unification Ministry said on Monday.

Lee Hee-ho, 93, plans to visit the DPRK from Wednesday to Saturday for humanitarian purposes via the flight of a low-cost domestic airline.

Unification Ministry's vice spokesperson Park Soo-jin told a press briefing that Lee will visit the DPRK in a personal capacity, saying the government was not considering its call for the widow to deliver a special message to the North side.

Park noted that government officials would not accompany Lee to the DPRK, but the spokesperson added that the visit would have a significant meaning in itself.

Lee's trip was proposed in late 2014 by top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, who invited her to Pyongyang in gratitude for her sending a wreath of condolence flowers to mark the third anniversary of the death of Kim Jong Il, younger Kim's father and late DPRK leader.

In 2000, Lee accompanied her husband as the first lady to Pyongyang, where late President Kim Dae-jung held the first inter- Korean summit with Kim Jong Il.

The widow also made a two-day trip to the DPRK in December 2011 to condole with Kim Jong Un on the death of his father. Endi