From news reports
North Korea offered to provide flights for Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, for her Pyongyang visit slated for next month, reports said Sunday.
“During the working-level talks (last week), the North Korean side said they could provide the flights needed for the visit,” Kim Sung-jae, the director of the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center and former culture minister, was quoted as telling Yonhap News. He elaborated that the offer was in line with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s orders to “take good care of the prestigious guest.”
Kim said they would continue to discuss whether to use the transportation offered by the North or to use a South Korean airplane.
Lee is set to visit the North on Aug. 5 for a four-day visit, which is anticipated here to instigate a thaw in frosty inter-Korean relations.
Last Wednesday, just days after the two sides agreed on Lee’s trip, North Korea warned that it might nullify the whole schedule, citing “South Korea’s provocations.”
The North’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee involved in talks for her visit said that conservative media in the South had made provocations by reporting that North Korea was trying to use Lee’s visit politically, such as by offering an airplane.
“South Korea should know that the agreement for Lee’s planned visit is tentative. … If South Korea continues to make provocations, an opportunity that Lee could visit the North could be missed,” said an unidentified spokesman from the committee.
The South Korean government had expressed regret over the North’s warning, but said that their support for Lee’s visit remains unchanged.
The 93-year-old widow of the former leader, noted for his efforts for cross-border reconciliation and cooperation, is to stay in the Baekhwawon Guesthouse in Pyongyang and visit a child care center, a children’s hospital, the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital and Mount Myohyang.
Lee last visited the North in December 2011 to attend the funeral for former North Korean ruler Kim Jong-il.
Lee’s visit has been sought since North Korean leader Kim offered a handwritten invitation to her last year. The invitation was delivered after she sent a wreath to Kim last December to mark the third anniversary of the death of his father, former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
