First Lady Lee Hee-ho at the funeral service of her husband, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in 2009. Lee plans to visit North Korea this Wednesday. File photo by Yonhap

SEOUL, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Pyongyang officially extended an invitation to former First Lady Lee Hee-ho but no South Korean government official is included in the entourage of delegates scheduled to travel to North Korea on Wednesday.

The Kim Dae-jung Peace Center said in statement the invitation from the North Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee came on Monday afternoon, and was addressed to the former first lady, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.


The Peace Center said 18 other delegates traveling with Lee includes former Culture Minister Kim Sung-jae and leading educators, including South Korean scholar Paik Nak-chung.

Lee has not visited North Korea since December 2011 when she traveled to Pyongyang to pay her respects to the deceased Kim Jong Il.

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Lee met with newly appointed leader Kim Jong Un during her North Korea visit, but a spokesman at the Peace Center said they cannot confirm whether the two are to meet this week.

The former first lady however has plans to offer gifts, South Korean newspaper Maeil Business reported.

Presents include a fur scarf Lee knitted herself and various medicines intended for a "North Korean dignitary," according to the Peace Center.

Relations between Seoul and Pyongyang have deteriorated since the presidency of Kim Dae-jung. Kim played a key role in reducing tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang in 2000 when he met with the elder Kim in North Korea and agreed to work toward peace on the Korean peninsula.

Seoul has said it welcomes the news of Lee's North Korea visit, but a Unification Ministry official said on Monday Lee's travel is "personal" and she has not been requested to deliver a message on behalf of the government.

In earlier plans Lee's team was planning to include an opposition party lawmaker and two former unification ministers, but they were not included in the list of delegates on Monday.

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