North Korea to send delegation to South for Kim Dae-jung funeral
09:53 19/08/2009 MOSCOW, August 19 (RIA Novosti) - North Korea is to send officials to the funeral of ex- South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, the Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday.
The agency cited Park Ji-won, a former aide to Kim, as saying the North had plans to send a five-strong delegation to the funeral in Seoul, scheduled to take place in the next week.
Nobel Peace Prize Winner Kim died on Tuesday at the age of 85. He was best known for his "Sunshine Policy" of attempting to engage and reach out to the communist North.
North Korean state media said on Wednesday that the country's leader, Kim Jong Il, had passed on his condolences to the late South Korean president's family.
The two leaders met at a 2000 summit in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
"The feats he performed to achieve national reconciliation and realize the desire for reunification will remain long with the nation," North Korea's KCNA news agency quoted Kim as saying.
North Korea has accused the South and the U.S. of preparing to attack it in the guise of joint military exercises that began on Monday.
However, South Korean analysts have suggested that any visit by a delegation from the North to the funeral could mean a softening of anti-Seoul rhetoric.
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