Koreans mourn passing of ex-leader

TENS of thousands of mourners filled the lawn outside parliament for the state funeral yesterday of ex-president Kim Dae-jung, a longtime defender of democracy and advocate of reconciliation, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to reach out to communist North Korea.

The man who made history by holding a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2000 also managed to bring the two Koreas together with his death on Tuesday at age 85.

A North Korean delegation dispatched to Seoul to mourn him held talks yesterday with South Korea’s president, relaying a message from Kim Jong Il during the first high-level contact between the rival nations after many months of tension.

The two Koreas technically remain in a state of war because their three-year conflict ended in 1953 with a truce, not a peace treaty.

Tanks and troops still guard the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone bisecting the peninsula. Kim Dae-jung, however, was respected on both sides of the border. As president from 1998 to 2003, his “Sunshine Policy” advocated engaging the isolated North and sought to ease reconciliation by plying the impoverished nation with aid.

In 2000, he travelled to Pyongyang to meet with Kim Jong Il, the first summit between leaders of the two Koreas.

Raising their hands aloft in a sight that would have been unimaginable just years earlier, the two Kims pledged to embark on a new era of peace on the Korean peninsula.

The following years saw a flowering of reconciliation projects, including the emotional temporary reunions of thousands of Korean family members separated during the Korean War, the restoration of a cross-border cargo train and inter-Korean business ventures.

Some criticised the flow of money to North Korea, which has evaded years of international pressure to dismantle its nuclear programme.

Relations have been tense since conservative president Lee Myung-bak took office in February 2008, abandoning the Sunshine Policy and insisting North Korea must prove its commitment to international nuclear disarmament pacts before it can expect aid.

Pyongyang, in response, ditched the reconciliation talks and most of the inter-Korean projects.

The North also has been locked in an international standoff with the US and other nations over its atomic ambitions after launching a rocket, test-firing missiles and conducting an underground nuclear test earlier this year.

However, there have been signs the tensions may be easing. After welcoming former president Bill Clinton during his mission to secure the release of two jailed US reporters, the North freed a South Korean citizen held for four months. It also said it would allow some joint projects to resume.

Kim Dae-jung’s death prompted condolences from Kim Jong Il, who authorised a high-level delegation of six to pay their respects, the first time the North has sent officials to mourn a former South Korean president.

Led by senior Workers’ Party official Kim Ki Nam and spy chief Kim Yang Gon, the delegation went straight to the National Assembly mourning site Friday.

They left a wreath on behalf of Kim Jong Il, bowed before Kim’s portrait and lit incense.

Extending their trip by a day, three North Korean officials met yesterday with Lee for a half hour, relaying Kim Jong Il’s thoughts on “progress on inter-Korean cooperation,” Seoul presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said.