DPRK's top leader sends 'verbal message' to Hyundai chief

PYONGYANG - Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), has sent a "verbal message" to the chief of South Korea's Hyundai Group, appreciating its former chairman's contribution to the inter-Korean relations.

The message was conveyed by Won Tong Yon, vice chairman of the Korea Asia-Pacific Committee, to Hyundai Chairwoman Hyon Jong Un on the 10th anniversary of the death of Hyundai's former chairman Jong Mong Hon, the official KCNA news agency reported on Sunday.

Kim said in the message that Jong "explored the road of national reconciliation and cooperation, and did a great work for developing the inter-Korean relations and achieving the country's reunification."

The message came after Hyon visited the Mt. Kumgang resort in the DPRK on Saturday for a memorial service for her late husband.

Jong, who aggressively sought inter-Korean business projects, committed suicide in 2003 amid a probe into allegations that the government of late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung secretly gave massive money to the DPRK ahead of the first-ever inter-Korean summit in 2000.

The cross-border tours to Mt. Kumgang, launched in 1998 and run by Hyundai Asan, were halted in 2008 when a South Korean female tourist was shot dead by a DPRK soldier after apparently venturing into an off-limit area.