(dailynewyorknews) – North Korea has accepted the Southern delegations wishing to visit Pyongyang to express condolences after the death of Kim Jong Il, according to a statement posted on a government website managed by the North.
“We will guarantee all the comfort and safety while visiting the South Koreans,” said uriminzokkiri.com statement, dated Thursday, adding that North Korea open to delegates “all roads and land routes through Kaesong “industrial park, about 45 kilometers (27 miles) north of Seoul.
After Pyongyang announced Monday the death of Kim, the dictator who ruled the secret dictatorship since 1994, Seoul has made a series of gestures as he tries to navigate the uncertainty generated by the passage of the North Korean leadership. Pyongyang has appointed the youngest son of Kim, Kim Jong Un, as a “worthy successor” to his father.
Seoul has expressed solidarity with the people of North Korea in a statement Tuesday. South Korea also said that if it does not send an official delegation to the North, which would allow a limited number of private groups to send delegations to the North, if desired.
Pyongyang said Thursday it would support a private delegation of Hyundai Asan, a South Korean company with heavy investment in the north, to pay tribute to Kim.
Recent measurements have been considered as a break with the hard line to the north that President Lee Myung-bak in South Korea had taken since he took office in 2008. What a contrast to the reaction of the death of Seoul to North Korea Kim Il Sung, the founder, in 1994, when the Conservative government of South Korea at the time did not offer his condolences.
The announcement by the North to accept delegations nuclear envoy has emerged as South Korea met in Beijing with senior Chinese officials on how to advance the nuclear disarmament of North Korea.
Nuclear point man in South Korea, Lim Sung-nam, met with Wu Dawei, China’s Special Representative for Korean Peninsula issues, to assess the situation after the death of Kim.
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/23/world/asia/north-korea-delegations/index.html?hpt=wo_c1
