South, North Korean leaders win peace award

President Kim Dae-Jung and North Korean Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-Il jointly won an international peace prize, awarded in Washington by an American non-governmental organization (NGOs).

North Korean leader Kim has received honorary doctorate degrees and a few other honors from East European countries, but this is the first time he receives a prize from a Western state.

The NGO, the Search for Common Ground for Preventing Ethnic Conflicts and Promoting Harmony, announced Thursday that it had decided to award the peace prize to the South and North Korean leaders in recognition of their historic breakthrough in efforts to end the five-decade-long conflict on the Korean peninsula.

The group said that Korean ambassador to the United States Yang Sung-Chul and North Korean ambassador to the United Nations Ri Hyong-Chol would accept the prizes on behalf of their leaders in an award ceremony to be held at the Finnish embassy in Washington on Dec. 14.