Former S.Korean first lady heads North for condolences

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 on Monday 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 and bring it to the negotiating table.

A thirteen-member delegation, led by Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former president Kim Dae-jung who masterminded the so-called "Sunshine Policy" of engagement with the North, crossed the border by car and will pay their respects at the bier of Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang.

"I hope my visit to North Korea will help improve South-North Korea relations," Yoon Chul-koo, an aide to Lee, quoted her as saying at an immigration office at the southern border of the De-Militarized Zone.

Lee, who met Kim Jong-il in Pyongynag in 2000 in the first inter-Korean summit since the end of the Korean War in 1953, will stay for two days and will not attend the Dec. 28 funeral.

Most South Koreans are banned from going to the North under the current government’s policy and South Korea, which remains technically at war with the North, is not sending an official delegation to mourn Kim, who died earlier this month.

Asked by reporters at the crossing point whether the delegation plans to meet North Korea’s new leader, Kim Jong-un, Yoon said the visit was for "pure condolence."

Kim Jong-un, who is in his late 20s, is the third of his line to rule the impoverished North, although he is likely to share power with a coterie.

A second group of mourners from South Korea led by the widow of one of South Korea’s biggest conglomerates that has investments in the North was also headed to Pyongyang.

Hyun Jeong-eun, the wife of the Hyundai business group’s late former chairman Chung Mong-hun, led a delegation of five people.

Hyun’s father-in-law was Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung, who established Hyundai Asan Corp in 1999 as a major investor in North Korea’s Mt. Kumgang tourist resort busness.

The business has been suspended since the fatal shooting in 2008 of a South Korean tourist at the resort.

Hyundai Asan is also involved in the Kaesong Industrial Park project in the North, one of the impoverished North’s few sources of foreign currency.

Japan's PM heads to China amid North Korea worries

Beijing - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda arrived in Beijing Sunday on his first official visit to China focused on regional security following the death of North Korean strongman Kim Jong-Il.

Ties between the two regional powers have been dogged by economic and territorial disputes. Japan has repeatedly expressed concern over China's widening naval reach in the Pacific and what it calls the "opaqueness" of Beijing's military budget.

But Kim's death has shifted the agenda to worries about nuclear-armed North Korea, where Kim's untested son Kim Jong-Un appears to be taking the reins of power in the isolated communist state.

It has created a "new situation" in East Asia, Noda said as he met with Wen Jiabao, the prime minister of China, a country he said wields the "most influence" over Pyongyang.

"On this issue it is very timely to exchange views with the host of the six-party (nuclear disarmament) talks and the country with the most influence on North Korea," Noda said.

Analysts agree that China holds the key to handling North Korea, where Japan has few ties overall and fewer still to Kim's untested son.

Japan, having no ties with the North, can do little other than to support China's engagement with Pyongyang, said Takehiko Yamamoto, professor at Waseda University.

"You might call it an achievement if Japan and China only confirm their joint resolve to work together to protect peace and stability in northeast Asia including on the Korean peninsula," he added.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi this week held telephone talks with his counterparts in the United States, South Korea, Russia and Japan as Beijing seeks to ensure regional stability.

Efforts to revive six-party negotiations on scrapping the North's nuclear programme are also likely to be on the agenda after Seoul's chief nuclear delegate visited China Thursday and Friday for meetings with his counterpart.

The six-party talks, chaired by China and also involving the two Koreas, the United States, Russia and Japan, have been at a standstill since December 2008.

Negotiations to resurrect them appeared to be making progress before Kim's death last Saturday. Media reports said Pyongyang would agree to suspend its uranium enrichment programme in return for food aid from Washington.

In his comments, Noda also stated that "safeguarding the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula is in the common interest" of China and Japan.

"We also hope to have a frank exchange of views on how to overcome the kidnapping issue, nuclear issue and missile issue," Noda stated.

Japan has previously expressed outrage over North Korea's abduction of its nationals, and has viewed with concern Pyongyang's test-firing of its short-range missiles on the same day it announced Kim's death.

Noda's overnight visit was set for December 12 and 13, but rescheduled to Sunday and Monday at China's request, apparently for domestic reasons.

Some suggested the date change was tied to the anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, in which Japanese troops killed tens of thousands of Chinese civilians during 1937-38

The two countries are also expected to discuss issues including territorial disputes in the East China Sea.

Japan will urge China towards a framework dialogue to set rules for the development of gas fields in the East China Sea, near disputed islands called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.

The two are still trying to heal diplomatic wounds from a year ago when China reacted in fury over the arrest of one of its fishermen near the islands after he rammed his ship into Japanese coastguard vessels.

Noda is also expected to thank China for its assistance in the aftermath of Japan's March earthquake and tsunami, and to ask that Beijing send a pair of pandas to the hard-hit city of Sendai to boost morale.

North Korea burnishes new ruler's credentials

 North Korea on Monday added an important title to the fast-growing credentials of its untested new ruler, referring to the youngest son of late leader Kim Jong-il as head of a key ruling party body.

In a move that experts said shows the anointed successor is on track to take full control of the secretive nation, the ruling party newspaper hailed Jong-un as head of its Central Committee.

"Let's stake our lives to safeguard the party's Central Committee led by dear comrade Kim Jong-un," Rodong Sinmun said.

Jong-un, in his late 20s, has already been touted as "great successor" and "supreme commander" of the military since his father died on December 17 of a heart attack at the age of 69.

Usually the head of the Central Committee — a top decision-making body — is also its general secretary, a position previously held by Kim Jong-il.

"Jong-un has not officially taken over as general secretary, but he is expected to inherit it and other posts held by his father," Dongguk University professor Kim Yong-hyun told AFP.

The late Kim also chaired the all-powerful National Defence Commission and headed the 1.19 million-strong military.

Officially, Jong-un's current highest post is vice-chairman of the party's Central Military Commission.

The North's official media heaped more praise on Jong-un, describing him as a "tender-hearted man" who sent hot, sweet drinks to mourners braving freezing conditions in the capital Pyongyang.

The isolated state is making final preparations for what is expected to be an elaborate funeral for Kim on Wednesday that will be closely watched for clues about the powers at the side of the new ruler.

Kim's death dominated a visit by Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to China, where he met President Hu Jintao on Monday, a day after talks with Premier Wen Jiabao.

China is North Korea's closest ally, and Noda has said safeguarding the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula is "in the common interest" of the two regional powers.

In South Korea, Lee Hee-ho, the 89-year-old widow of late president Kim Dae-jung, and Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun left on a private visit Monday to express their condolences.

They crossed the world's last Cold War frontier and travelled overland to Pyongyang where they were to meet officials during their two-day trip. They will not stay for the funeral.

"I hope that our visit to the North will help improve South-North relations," Yonhap news agency quoted Lee as saying before she crossed over with her aides.

It was unclear whether they would meet Jong-un.

Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il held the first-ever inter-Korea summit in 2000 and Hyundai pioneered cross-border business projects.

A South Korean left-wing activist also left Saturday for North Korea via Paris and Beijing to pay her respects, her colleagues said, despite Seoul's ban on visits other than the trip by the former first lady and Hyundai chief.

The North on Sunday lashed out at South Korea for its response to Kim's death, warning of "catastrophic consequences" for relations unless Seoul eases restrictions on condolence visits by South Koreans.

The South blames its neighbour for two deadly border incidents last year, but has taken a generally conciliatory stance since the shock announcement on November 19 that Kim had died of a heart attack two days earlier.

But the authorities, who by law must approve all contacts with Pyongyang, are allowing only two private delegations to visit the North to pay respects and are not sending an official team.

The two Koreas have remained technically at war since the 1950-1953 Korean conflict ended only in a ceasefire.

A group of pro-North Korean activists said they planned to set up an altar in Seoul to mourn Kim's death despite conservative opposition.

They will display Kim's photo with flowers in downtown Seoul Monday to "share sorrow with compatriots in North Korea," said their leader Yon Ki-hor.

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