Widow of former South Korean leader arrives in North Korea

The widow of late former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung left for North Korea under tight security Wednesday, after an anti-Pyongyang group had threatened to blow up her plane.

The 93-year-old former first lady flew to Pyongyang along the direct air route, specially approved by DPRK leader Kim Jong-un – such flights were banned after the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in armistice, not in peace treaty.

Lee briefly met with Kim in December 2011 when she visited Pyongyang to pay tribute upon the death of Kim Jong-il, the father of the North’s current leader.

Seoul has repeatedly stressed that Lee’s visit has no official characteristics of any kind.

It didn’t take long, but according to the Korea Central News Agency, the North Koreans are underwhelmed by the Iran nuclear deal – and thus unlikely to follow suit.

Relations between the Koreas have been testy in recent months over the opening of a United Nations office in Seoul tasked with monitoring North Korea’s human rights situation and the North’s refusal to release several South Koreans detained there.

Last year, Hyundai Group Chairman Hyun Jeong-eun and 24 officials paid a visit to Mount Kumgang.

The 224-kilometer railway had been a main route for transporting goods between the two cities until 1945, when the Korean Peninsula was divided.

The foundation previously gave the same award to Kim’s grandfather Kim Il-sung, who founded the North Korean dictatorship.

“Lee accompanied her husband on that trip and also has been there since then”.

Seoul has stressed that Lee’s visit is a personal one and she is not carrying any official message from the South Korean government.

During her stay in North Korea, she is expected to visit a children’s hospital, a maternity home and an orphanage in Pyongyang and deliver clothes to North Korean children.

Kim Jong-un may be famous for running North Korea with an iron fist, but one Indonesian organization seems to think that he is a good fit for a statesmanship award which rewards “peace, justice and humanity”, writes Kim Bellware for The Huffington Post. There had been hopes that the anniversary could serve as an opportunity for a resumption of dialogue, but the two Koreas did not agree on any joint celebratory event.