N. Korean envoys to attend S. Korean Ex-President's funeral

North Korea said today it would send a delegation to the funeral of the former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, according to a lawmaker quoted by the Yonhap news agency in Seoul.



Such an official visit would signal a dramatic change in policy regarding diplomatic exchanges, according to a report on www.nytimes.com.



Park Jie-won, an opposition member of Parliament, who was once an aide to Mr. Kim, said yesterday he received the news of the visit in a letter faxed from the North Korean government agency in charge of cross-border affairs. The agency said five North Korean \"special envoys\" would make a one or two-day trip for the funeral, bringing with them a wreath from the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.



Up to this afternoon the date of the funeral had not been set, and a spokeswoman for South Korea\'s Unification Ministry told Yonhap that the government has \"received no such information yet from North Korea.\"