Kim pays tribute to S. Korean tycoon

Sat, 24 Mar 2001 | Source: AFP

SEOUL (AFP): North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-Il will send a delegation to Seoul on Saturday to pay a landmark tribute to Hyundai tycoon Chung Ju-Yung, Hyundai officials said on Friday.

Kim sent a condolence message, released by the North's official media on Friday, to the family of Chung, who died on Wednesday. It was the first tribute made by the North Korean leader to a prominent South Korean.

Hyundai official Lee Mikyung said a four-member delegation led by Song Ho-Kyong, a vice chairman of the North's state-run Asia Pacific Peace Committee, would arrive on Saturday morning and leave later in the day.

She said the North Korean team would bring Kim Jong-Il's condolence message and a floral tribute. But South Korea's Ministry of Unification said no formal request for the unprecedented visit to the South had been made. But a ministry official said: "I don't think we have any reason to object to it."

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