Former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg says late Korean President Kim Dae-jung sent a detailed memo concerning North Korea policy to U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this spring.

In a telephone interview with a New York-based KBS correspondent, Gregg said he wrote a letter to Kim on May fourth asking his advice on North Korea policy for the Obama administration. He said Kim responded with a six-page letter.

Gregg said Kim gave the letter to former President Bill Clinton, who was visiting South Korea at the time, on May eleventh. Gregg said he is convinced that Clinton’s meeting with President Kim played a role in the former U.S. head of state’s decision to get involved in securing the release of two American journalists who were detained in North Korea.

The former ambassador said the late president continued to exercise direct influence on former and incumbent U.S. presidents prior to his death.