Korean delegation heads North to its pay respects

THE widow of former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, the author of a now-jettisoned engagement policy with North Korea, crossed the fortified land border between the two sides yesterday to pay her respects to deceased dictator Kim Jong-il.

Ties between the North and South have been frozen since the election of conservative South Korean president Lee Myung-bak in 2008, who cut aid in a bid to force the North to abandon a nuclear programme.

A 13-member delegation, led by Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former president Kim Dae-jung who masterminded the “sunshine policy” of engagement with the North, crossed the border by car and will pay respects at the bier of Jong-il in Pyongyang.