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.