By Xu Haijing

Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, the advocate of the Sunshine Policy that seeks reconciliation with the Northern part of the Korean Peninsula, died Tuesday at a time when inter-Korean relations are at their worst in recent years.

However, to the consolation of the late Nobel Peace Prize winner, leaders of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) had made a number of reconciliatory gestures immediately before and after his death, which some observers said will help melt the ice.

Goodwill actions

One day before Kim's death, the DPRK announced that its leader Kim Jong Il had consented to all requests by Hyun Jeong-eun, Chairwoman of South Korea's Hyundai Group during her recent trip to Pyongyang.

"He (Kim Jong Il) accepted all our requests," Hyun said later, "He told us to tell him everything we wanted so we did."

These include the reunion of separated families and the resumption of tourism at the scenic Mt. Kumgang resort. Tourism there had been put on hold a year ago after a DPRK soldier killed a South Korean tourist who had entered a restricted zone.

More goodwill actions by both sides followed after the death of Kim Dae-jung. South Koreans held Kim in great esteem for his decades-long pursuit of democracy, while his bold decision to cross the miliary demarkcation line to visit the North also won him admiration of the DPRK leaders and people.

The DPRK said the government would send a high-ranking delegation to Seoul to attend Kim's funeral. South Korea soon approved the visit, the first of its kind in almost two years.

The DPRK government will also reopen the inter-Korean economic negotiation office in Kaesong Industrial Complex and resume inter-Korean railroad operations, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported on Thursday.

At the end of last year, the DPRK began to impose traffic restriction on its borders with the South, seriously blocking the entry of personnel and goods. In May, the DPRK said it was canceling all contracts with the South concerning wage, rent and tax in Kaesong and asking for much higher payments and rent.

The inter-Korean relations deteriorated since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office 18 months ago, who has linked aid to the DPRK to its commitment on nuclear disarmament. In recent months, Pyongyang has conducted a series of long-range rocket launches and nuclear tests, after which the tension on the peninsula further worsened.

US-DPRK talks?

DPRK diplomats, meanwhile, met for a second day in the United States with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who said the diplomats had expressed their country's readiness to discuss its nuclear program with Washington.

Richardson described the discussions as "very positive" at the end of talks on Thursday.

Nevertheless, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley stressed that Washington is willing to have bilateral talks with the DPRK "within the larger framework of the six-party process."

Philip Goldberg, US coordinator for the UN resolution on the DPRK's nuclear and missile tests, also said in Singapore that "If there is a return to the six-party talks, that's a good thing."

Pyongyang announced its withdrawal from the six-party talks on the DPRK's nuclear disarmament in April.

Earlier this month, the DPRK made a reconciliatory gesture by releasing two jailed American journalists following a visit to Pyongyang by former US President Bill Clinton.

Kim Dae-jung's funeral offered another rare chance to give further push to the reconciliation move. However, it would be premature to predict a marked improvement in their bilateral ties.

South Korean government officials had made it clear that no meetings were scheduled between President Lee and the DPRK delegation that was in Seoul to pay its last respect to Kim.

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2009)