North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has expressed his condolences to the bereaved family members of late former President Kim Dae-jung.

The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday that Kim conveyed his words of sorrow in a letter to the former president’s family.

The North’s leader added that Kim’s contributions to the reconciliation and reunification of the two Koreas will forever be remembered.

The report did not mention when or how the letter was delivered.

The two leaders met in June 2002 for a historic inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang, which marked the first meeting between North and South Korean leaders since the end of the Korean War. The meeting came as part of Kim Dae-jung's so-called “Sunshine Policy,” which sought economic and diplomatic engagement with the communist state.