After two years, delegates from North and South Korea meet again
Seoul (AsiaNews) - For the first time in two years a meeting was held between delegations of North and South Korea. The North Korean delegation, that came to Seoul to pay homage to former president Kim Dae-jung, has stayed one day more, and most likely will meet with the current president of the South, Lee Myung-bak.
After about 90 minutes of talks, Hyun In-taek, the South’s Minister for Unification, said that his counterpart, Kim Yang-gon, "could delay his return to North Korea."
Kim Yang-gon, leading the North Korean delegation, very close to Kim Jong-il, said that "after having met many people [in the South], I feel it imperative that the North-South relationship improve."
Today's meeting is the first since the rise to power of conservative Lee Myung-bak in December 2007. Since then relations have become increasingly bitter, with constant threats from the North and blocking of aid by the South, which seeks to involve Pyongyang again in talks on nuclear disarmament.
The death of Kim Dae-jung, democratic, advocate of a policy of détente with the North, was the catalyst for new steps towards reconciliation.
At the official funeral which took place yesterday, while mourners offered incense for the deceased, who died at 85, they were given sheets with quotations from the diary of former President. Some contained reflections on the last years of his life and were read in public. In his diary Kim Dae-jung expressed his anger against the unilateral administration of Lee Myung-bak, expressing his sorrow for the state of democracy in his country and the difficulties in the inter-Korean relationships. Knowing that he had not much longer to live, his diary also reveals his reflections on the pure beauty of life and his deep affection for his wife Lee Hee-ho.
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