North Korean official Kim Ki-nam on Tuesday visited former President Kim Dae-jung at Yonsei Severance Hospital to deliver a get well message from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

Kim Ki-nam, the head of a North Korean delegation visiting Seoul, said he was instructed by the North's leader to give the voice message in person to the former president and his wife.

Kim Dae-jung thanked Kim Jong-il and said the delegation's visit promises a big step forward in inter-Korean relations that were started by the 2000 joint declaration.

The former president also accepted a special invitation from Kim Jong-il to visit Pyongyang, saying he will go at an appropriate time.

Also visiting Kim Dae-jung were Lim Dong-ok, vice chairman of the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, North Korean civic leader Ahn Gyong-ho, and South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young.