Japan to send ex-lower house speaker Kono to Kim Dae Jung's funeral+

TOKYO, Aug. 19 Kyodo - Japan is preparing to send former House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono as a special envoy to the funeral of former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said Wednesday.

Kono would suit the duty to pay Japan's condolences as he had long, close ties
with Kim and contributed to promoting bilateral ties when he was foreign
minister, government sources said.
Kono got acquainted with Kim in the early 1970s and after Kim was abducted in
1973 from a Tokyo hotel by what have since been revealed as South Korean
agents, Kono called on both the Japanese and South Korean governments for his
early release.
After Kim held an historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, Kono,
as foreign minister, visited South Korea in July 2000 and discussed North
Korea.
Kono, 72, a Liberal Democratic Party member who once headed the ruling party,
served as the chamber's speaker for more than five years until it was dissolved
last month. He is retiring from politics after nearly 43 years as a lower house
member.
Kim, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who championed inter-Korean reconciliation,
died Tuesday afternoon after a battle with pneumonia. He was 85.
==Kyodo