Megawati visit North Korean flower exhibition<\/p>\n
Former Indonesian president Megawati Soekarnoputri (left) and
\nRatna Sari Dewi Sukarno (second left), the Japanese widow of
\nIndonesia's founding president Sukarno, visited a flower
\nexhibition in the North Korean capital on Wednesday as part of
\ncelebrations leading to the birth anniversary of the socialist
\nnation's founding ruler Kim Il-sung.<\/p>\n
Megawati's visit comes amid the ongoing nuclear standoff with
\nNorth Korea, and it wasn't known if the former Indonesian leader
\nplanned to meet leader Kim Jong-il. Their fathers, the late Kim
\nand Indonesian strongman Sukarno, were friends.<\/p>\n
The \"Kimilsungia\" orchids displayed ahead of the Friday
\nholiday marking the 93rd anniversary of his birth were given by
\nSukarno to the elder Kim when he visited Indonesia in 1965. North
\nKorea also has a \"Kimjongilia\" flower for its current ruler.<\/p>\n
Some 5,000 Pyongyang citizens were mobilized to visit the
\nopening of the flower show where some 10,000 orchids were on
\ndisplay, Associated Press Television News reported.<\/p>\n
\"He was a very smart person. Very honest. And of course I know
\nhe is brave and always loved his country and his people,\"
\nMegawati said of the late Kim, according to APTN.<\/p>\n
Kim Il-sung died in 1994, but he still is enshrined in the
\ncountry's constitution as the \"eternal president\" and his birth
\nand death anniversaries are major holidays.<\/p>\n
Megawati was to visit South Korea after her trip to the North.
\n-- AP<\/p>",
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