when he met North Korean leader Kim Jong Il , becoming the first South Korean leader to do so since the Korean War unofficially ended in 1953 . But rapproachment talks between the two sides hit a wall after conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in early 2008 with a tougher stance toward the North than Kim and his successor , Roh Moo-hyun . Ahead of the funeral , President Lee met with a visiting North Korean delegation , who delivered a message from Kim Jong Il expressing hopes for improved relations between the two countries . Lee , in turn , reiterated his government 's firm stance , presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan was quoted as saying by Yonhap . But in a possible sign that icy relations between the two rival nations are nevertheless thawing , South Korean Unification Minister Hyun In Taek met with North Korean unity leader Kim Yang Gon on Saturday . It was the first high-level , cross-border contact in nearly two years . The meetings between officials of the two Koreas are in stark contrast to the tense public statements they made about each other earlier this year . Tensions between the
SEOUL , South Korea -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- South Korea bade farewell to former President Kim Dae-Jung Sunday in a ceremony attended by thousands of citizens , dignitaries and politicians . South Korean Buddhist monks pray in front of a portrait of former president Kim Dae-jung during his funeral Sunday . The solemn Sunday afternoon ceremony was held outside parliament , with a large portrait of Kim placed on a shrine surrounded by flowers . The funeral followed six days of mourning for Kim , who died Tuesday of a heart failure . Kim 's age at the time of his death was in dispute , with some reports saying he was 85 while others placing it at 83 . Kim 's state funeral was the second such ever given in the country , South Korea 's Yonhap news agency said . Another president , Park Chung-hee , was also accorded a state funeral after his assassination while in office in 1979 . Kim -- who was president from 1998 to 2003 -- won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for trying to foster better relations with North Korea . The watershed moment of his presidency came in June 2000