(2nd LD) S. Korea not to ask ex-first lady to deliver gov't message to N. Korea

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SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- The Unification Ministry said Monday it is not considering asking a former first lady to deliver a government message on inter-Korean relations to North Korea when she visits there this week.

Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, plans to visit North Korea from Wednesday to Saturday by low-budget local plane for humanitarian purposes. The 93-year-old Lee was the South's first lady during Kim's five-year tenure until 2003.

The ministry said it is not considering asking Lee to convey a special message to the North on the Seoul government's behalf when she visits.

"As Lee will visit the North in a private capacity, the government is not considering sending a special message to the North," Park Soo-jin, the deputy spokeswoman for the Unification Ministry, said in a regular press briefing. "Government officials will also not accompany Lee."

In early July, the North threatened to cancel Lee's visit if Seoul continued to make provocations against Pyongyang.

Later in the day, Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo, on vacation this week, paid a courtesy visit to Lee and wished her a safe trip, an official with the ministry said.

"Minister Hong told Lee that there's no particular message that she needs to deliver, and explained to her the basis of our government's policy on North Korea," the official added.

The Kim Dae-jung Peace Center, the organizer for the trip, said that North Korea sent a letter earlier in the day to confirm its invitation of the 19-member delegation to the North.

The center said the delegation includes seven officials from the center and three others from a humanitarian aid agency founded by Lee Hee-ho. The ex-first lady will also be accompanied by two secretaries, four security guards, a photographer and a videographer.

The delegation does not include high-profile politicians or former government officials such as opposition lawmaker Park Jie-won and former Unification Minister Lim Dong-won. South Korean journalists will also not be allowed to accompany the delegation to cover Lee's trip.

Lee's visit is raising expectations that it will help ease the strained inter-Korean ties, as the two countries are to mark the 70th anniversary of their liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule this year.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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