DPRK top leader meets visiting Hyundai chairwoman

PYONGYANG, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Kim Jong Il, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Sunday met visiting South Korean Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun, the official KCNA news agency said.

Photo released by Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) central news agency on Aug. 16, 2009 shows Kim Jong Il (C Front), top leader of the DPRK, and Chairwoman of South Korea's Hyundai Group Hyun Jung- eun (L, front) posing for a picture in Pyongyang, capital of DPRK.  (Xinhua/KCNA)

Kim "had a cordial talk with her in an atmosphere of compatriotic feelings, remembering the predecessors of the HyundaiGroup with deep emotion," the KCNA said.

Kim then gave a luncheon for the chairwoman and her party, it added.

Hyun came to Pyongyang Monday and negotiated the release of a Hyundai employee who had been detained for months by the DPRK.

Hyun, 54, is the widow of Chung Mong Hun, son of Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju Yung. She last met the top DPRK leader in 2005.