Plans for the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung to visit North Korea have been delayed to May or June next year.
 
The Kim Dae Jung Peace Center said in a statement Monday it has been decided that former first lady, Lee Hee-ho, will put off her trip to the North until next year given her health and the cold weather.
 
The official said the center will inform the North’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee of the decision sometime on Monday.
 
Lee, 93, was hospitalized twice in October for pneumonia. Her doctors are said to have advised her to delay plans to visit the North out of concerns that her health could worsen with the cold temperatures.

Lee’s aides and the North’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee had agreed to the trip, which included a visit to an orphanage in Pyongyang, during recent working-level talks at Gaeseong. However, they had not set a definite date for the trip.

In October, Lee conveyed her intention to visit the North to President Park Geun-hye. Once Park expressed approval of the former first lady's planned trip, discussions on the matter were actively conducted.