Koreans bid farewell to former President Kim Dae-jung

(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead paras; UPDATES throughout)
By Byun Duk-kun and Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Koreans Sunday bid their last farewells to late
former President Kim Dae-jung at a sombre state funeral for the lifelong champion
of democracy, inter-Korean reconciliation and human rights, who died Tuesday aged
85 after a long battle with pneumonia.
Over 20,000 people, including President Lee Myung-bak, politicians and foreign
delegates, attended the state funeral that took place at a plaza in front of the
National Assembly in Yeouido, central Seoul.
"You have dedicated your entire life to promoting human rights, peace and
inter-Korean peace. Your footprints will forever remain as our proud history,"
Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said in his eulogy to the late Kim.
"The whole nation will strive to open a new era of national unity, leaving behind
regional, class, ideological and generational confrontations," said Han, who
headed a 2,371-member committee that made arrangements for the nation's
second-ever state funeral.
The only other state funeral was in 1979, when then President Park Chung-hee was
assassinated. The late Kim became the first former head of state honored with a
state funeral, as Park died while in office.
A native of an island in South Jeolla Province, Kim is remembered for his
unrelenting struggle against the country's authoritarian rulers.
He won the 1997 presidential election to become the first opposition leader to
take power and first South Korean president to hold a summit with North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il in 2000. His efforts to reconciliate the two Koreas under his
famous "Sunshine Policy" won him a Nobel Peace Prize later that year.
Following the hour-long funeral service, the motorcade carrying the coffin of the
late Kim headed for the Seoul National Cemetery in southern Seoul after brief
visits to his private home in Donggyo-dong, western Seoul, and Seoul Plaza in
front of the city hall.
At Seoul Plaza, thousands of citizens were expected to hold a street funeral rite.
Meanwhile, Kim's death appeared to have opened new doors for the soured relations
between the divided Koreas as the North Korean leader had sent a group of six
special envoys, including his top aide and ranking secretary of the powerful
Workers' Party, Kim Ki-nam.
The North Korean official, along with two other close aides of the North Korean
leader, met with the South Korean president here earlier Sunday and delivered a
personal message from their leader, according to Seoul's presidential office
Cheong Wa Dae.
Seoul-Pyongyang relations deteriorated to their worst in over a decade since the
Lee Myung-bak government was inaugurated 18 months ago with a pledge to take a
tough stance on the North's nuclear programs and military provocations.
North Korea's relationship with the South, as well as the international
community, further worsened this year as the communist nation launched a
long-range rocket in April and conducted its second atomic test the following
month.
The North Korean delegation returned home shortly after the meeting carrying a
message from the South Korean president for their leader that calls for a
resumption of dialogue between the two Koreas.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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