Kim Jong-il sends birthday gift to Rev. Moon

Korea Herald, February 9, 2000

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has sent a birthday gift to the Unification Church's Rev. Moon Sun-Myung, who is also president of the Federation of World Peace. Moon will turn 80 Friday.

Park Chung-il of Mt. Kumgang International Group said Monday group chairman Park Bo-hee had returned from his five-day visit to North Korea last week to attend a ground-breaking ceremony for an inter-Korean joint venture auto plant in Nampo. Park bore Kim's birthday gift and Asia-Pacific Peach Committee Chairman Kim Yong-sun's congratulatory message to Moon.

It is rare for the North Korean leader to give a gift to a South Korean, and the birthday gift seems to be a symbol of the unique relationship between North Korea and Moon's body of world peace.

Park, whose Mt. Kumgang International Group is also affiliated with Moon's Unification Church, did not say what the gift was.