The government has offered condolences over the death of North Korea’s Workers’ Party Secretary Kim Yang-gon who passed away on Tuesday.
 
An official of the Ministry of Unification said Wednesday that the ministry sent a letter around 10:40 a.m., signed under the name of Unification Minister Hong Young-pyo, through a communication channel at the truce village of Panmunjeom.
 
The North confirmed that it received Seoul's letter addressed to the United Front Department of the North’s Workers' Party in charge of inter-Korean relations.
 
In the letter, the ministry expressed its condolences over Kim’s death, acknowledging his contribution to drawing an inter-Korean agreement during high-level talks in August. 
 
Seoul, however, is said to not be considering sending a delegation to pay respects in Pyongyang. 
 
The latest message is the South Korean government's first official letter of condolences to Pyongyang in eight years, after the North's Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun passed in 2007.