Widow of ex-South Korean leader travels to North Korea

There are telephones on the South Korean side for defectors from the impoverished and reclusive North to call seeking help, although it was not immediately clear if Tuesday’s incident involved North Korea.

South Korea, who are also missing Bayer Leverkusen’s Son Heung-min and Ki Sung-yeung of Swansea City, however, had a comfortable 2-0 win in the day’s late match against hosts China with goals from Kim Dae-seung and Lee Jong-ho.

And Lee’s visit personally approved by Kim Jong-Un may offer a window for resuming a dialogue over relatively non-political issues, said Jeung Young-Tae, an analyst at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification.

At the time, she briefly met with Kim Jong-Un while he was receiving mourners.

Kim Dae-jung, a strong supporter of rapprochement with Pyongyang, held landmark inter-Korean summit talks in 2000 with Kim’s father and late North Korean leader Kim Jong Illinois.

Direct flights between the two countries, who remain technically at war, are extremely rare.

The policy was however largely abandoned when a conservative administration took power in 2008 and cross-border ties soured.

South Korea has been on high alert recently in anticipation of a major provocation by Pyongyang, as signs of a potential long-range ballistic missile launch have been detected in North Korea.

Striker Saori Arimachi then tried her luck before Japan took the lead on the half hour, Nakajima picking up a loose ball just outside the area and beating South Korea goalkeeper Kim Jung Michigan with a low drive that took a deflection off Kwon Hah Nul on its way into the back of the net.

At the start of the year, there had been hopes that the anniversary could serve as an icebreaker for a resumption of dialogue, but the two sides have been unable to agree on any joint celebratory event.