North Korea said Wednesday it will send a high-level delegation to the funeral of former South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung, its latest apparently conciliatory gesture after months of hostility. South Korea's unification ministry said it would make arrangements for the visit, which would be the first from Pyongyang since late 2007. The trip was proposed by leader Kim Jong-Il, who met then-President Kim Dae-Jung in Pyongyang in 2000 for the first-ever summit between two nations still technically in a state of war. Kim Dae-Jung was awarded the Nobel peace prize later that year for his efforts at cross-border reconciliation and his earlier struggle for democracy against army-backed autocrats. The communist state's leader praised Kim's efforts to improve cross-border relations. 'Though he passed away to our regret, the feats he performed to achieve national reconciliation and realise the desire for reunification will remain long with the nation,' the official news agency quoted the leader as saying. Park Jie-Won, a spokesman for the former president's family, said leader Kim had sent condolences and announced he would send a personal wreath and 'special envoys' to the funeral. Park told reporters the North had indicated it would send a five-member team led by a secretary of its ruling party. The North suggested the delegation could stay one day but longer if necessary. It would use a special plane flying directly to the South. Seoul has said it would not object to mourners from Pyongyang. 'We have no reason to reject the North Korean offer,' unification ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-Joo told selfnews, adding a formal announcement would be made after practical details are sorted out. The two Koreas have remained technically at war since their 1950-1953 conflict. They have no scheduled transport links. The funeral date has not been announced. The government is consulting the family about whether it wants a state ceremony or a lower-level one. Park said the funeral would be held in the compound outside parliament and Kim's body would be moved there Thursday from the Seoul hospital where he died after a bout of pneumonia. Cross-border relations have become icy since Seoul's new conservative government took a tougher line with Pyongyang last year -- abandoning the 'sunshine' engagement policy of Kim Dae-Jung and his successor. But in a rare conciliatory gesture Monday, the North offered to resume tourism trips and family reunions for South Koreans. Last week it freed a South Korean engineer detained in the North for four months. Former US president Bill Clinton flew to Pyongyang this month to win the release of two American journalists. Officials reportedly indicated to Clinton they want better ties with Washington, which is pushing for tough enforcement of United Nations sanctions imposed following the North's latest missile and nuclear tests. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was due to meet Wednesday with two North Korean diplomats from the UN mission, his office said. 'North Korea has made a strategic decision to use former president Kim's death to ease tensions on the peninsula to benefit itself,' Yang Moo-Jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, told selfnews. Yang said a funeral delegation would create an atmosphere for dialogue, offsetting international pressure on the North. Mourning altars are to be set up nationwide for Kim, a towering figure in the country's decades of struggle for democracy. US President Barack Obama praised his 'tireless efforts' to promote peace on the Korean peninsula, calling him a 'courageous champion of democracy and human rights'. Japan and China also paid tribute, along with past and present South Korean leaders and ordinary citizens. Kim held office from 1998-2003 after surviving assassination attempts and a death sentence during his dangerous years as a dissident. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hailed Kim's 'noble life of dedication to the goals of peace, democracy and prosperity' in Korea. Kim also won praise for his handling of the 1998 Asian economic crisis. He never wavered on the need for reconciliation with the North, even though his policy failed to halt its drive for nuclear weapons and two atomic tests. 