N. Korean envoys mourn late Kim Dae-jung worldwide

NEW YORK, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korean diplomats around the world paid
respects to late former President Kim Dae-jung in South Korean missions on
Friday, following a high-level delegation's visit to Seoul that set the mood for
conciliation.

"I can't contain my grief," Sin Son-ho, a North Korean chief envoy to the United
Nations in New York, wrote in a condolence guestbook at the South Korean mission.
Sin paid tribute at an altar set up at the mission, where a throng of foreign
diplomats came to honor the late president, whose lifelong struggle for democracy
and reconciliation with North Korea earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000.
"Although former President Kim Da-jung passed away, his feats and dedication to
reconciliation and unification will stay in the heart of the Korean people," Sin
wrote.
The former president's death set off chances for rare inter-Korean communications
far away from home. Ja Song-nam, the North Korean ambassador to Britain, made a
phone call to the South Korean embassy to notify officials there of his planned
condolence visit and later held a conversation with Chun Yung-woo, Seoul's
ambassador there and former chief envoy to the six-party denuclearization talks.
"Condolences for late former President Kim Dae-jung," Ja wrote in a guestbook.
The North Korean mourning visits were also reported in South Korean missions in
France, South Africa, Brazil and many other countries that have diplomatic
relations with Pyongyang. North Korea appeared to have issued a directive to
missions abroad to pay condolences, in line with a high-level team's trip to
Seoul to mourn the late leader, South Korean embassy officials suggested.
A six-member delegation, led by Kim Ki-nam, a Workers' Party secretary and one of
the closest aides to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, was in Seoul on a two-day
visit to honor the late president.
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