ⓒYONHAP News

Director Kim Sung-jae of the Kim Dae Jung Peace Center announced that former First Lady Lee Hee-ho passed away Monday night. She was 97.

"Ms. Lee Hee-ho had two last requests. First, she thanked the people for giving so much love to her husband President Kim Dae-jung and herself. She said she hopes the Korean people would love and harmonize with each other and live happily. She said that she will pray for the Korean people and the reunification of the two Koreas when she goes to heaven."

The wife of late former President Kim Dae-jung had been hospitalized since March, battling liver cancer and other ailments.

She actively supported her husband's political career. The couple endured various trials together, including Kim’s exile to the United States following a commuted death sentence as well as house arrest and surveillance under South Korea’s military dictatorship in the 1980s.

She was also engaged in politics, diplomacy and inter-Korean relations. In 2000, she accompanied her husband to Pyongyang for the first-ever inter-Korean summit.

After her husband's passing, Lee made two more trips to North Korea, in 2011 and 2015, and continued to push for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

As the head of the Kim Dae Jung Peace Center, Lee also devoted her remaining life in promoting the legacy of her husband.

"My husband endured agonizing hardships for democracy throughout his life. He committed himself to human rights and inter-Korean reconciliation. He never compromised despite temptations and pressure from the powers-that-be. I wish you live with the spirit of reconciliation and forgiveness that my husband pursued his entire life and a conscience of action that loves peace and our neighbors in need."

Before marrying late former President Kim Dae-jung in 1962, Lee taught at her alma mater, Ewha Womans University, and worked as a women's rights activist.