Kim Jong-il, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), mourned the death of Kim Dae-jung, former president of the Republic of Korea (ROK), the official news agency KCNA reported on Wednesday.

"Though he passed away to our regret, the feats he performed to achieve national reconciliation and realize the desire for reunification will remain long with the nation," he added.

Kim Dae-jung, 85, died of pneumonia early Tuesday. Taking office in 1998, he served as president for five years, during which he met with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong-il for the first time since the armistice of the Korean War.

Apart from that, Kim also won the Nobel Prize for his "lifelong " strife for democracy and efforts to realize reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula.