South Korean PM Kim Jong Pil (No. 35 last year) was crucial in getting President Kim Dae Jung, this year's co-No. 1, into office.
China, North Korea's main backer, has not yet given its official reaction to Kim Jong-il's death.
Both Lee and Kim Jong Pil call the Chungchung region of central South Korea home, a coincidence that could dilute the oppositionist's strength.
Mr. Obama said Sunday the situation in North Korea was still too "unsettled" for him to have developed an impression of Kim Jong Eun.
The Obama administration is particularly uncertain about how to respond to Mr. Kim, who took power from his late father, Kim Jong Il, only 16 months ago, according to administration officials.
The U.S. and South Korea last week warned that the trip to Pyongyang by Mr. Iijima, a top adviser to the Abe cabinet, may hurt efforts to pressure North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
On Nov. 3, South Korea saw the joining of forces by two opposition presidential candidates: Kim Dae Jung of the National Congress for New Politics and Kim Jong Pil of the United Liberal Democrats (ULD).
Schmidt, who is the highest-profile U.S. business executive to visit North Korea since leader Kim Jong Un took power a year ago, has not spoken publicly about the reasons behind the journey to North Korea.
Turning to international news, experts tell Hong Kong's South China Morning Post that Beijing will verify the purpose of any bank accounts linked to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un before taking any action against Pyongyang.
Kim Dae Jung, a liberal former democracy activist, was once a constant target of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, the national security apparatus that conservative Kim Jong Pil formed during military strongman Park Chung Hee's rule.
Some senior U.S. officials have said that the Obama administration doesn't want to take any actions that could destabilize North Korea or give Kim Jong Il reasons to unilaterally pull out of negotiations aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear program.
"It's time to end the politics of the three Kims, " said Lee, referring to the ex-president, plus the incumbent president and Kim Jong Pil, three veteran politicians with the same surname who have dominated South Korean politics since the early 1960s.
Mr. Iijima was a top adviser to former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, and was deeply involved in organizing his visit to North Korea for talks with then-leader Kim Jong Il in the early 2000s, which led to the release of several Japanese abductees.
Senior South Korean officials, who met with Secretary of State John Kerry in Seoul on Friday, said their government also was willing to resume humanitarian assistance to the North following weeks of escalating threats by North Korean leader Kim Jong Eun to attack American and allied targets in North Asia and the Pacific.
They also backed up his assertion that assistant researcher Kim Sun-jong deceived him with fake data that became part of the research.
But just to make sure that the message gets through to Chinese tourists and investors, the husband-and-wife team behind Jeju Weekly, Dr. Kim Gyong Ho and Song Jong Hee, plan to start a Chinese publication in 2011 which will be available in both print and on the web.
From almost 40% a decade ago, it fell to 27% in 2008, according to a recent paper by Soyoung Kim of Seoul National University, as well as Jong-Wha Lee and Cyn-Young Park of the Asian Development Bank.
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