SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government has made no decision on whether to express condolences on the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, a senior official at the foreign ministry said Monday.
President Lee Myung-bak was holding an emergency National Security Council (NSC) meeting to discuss countermeasures after North Korea's state media reported that Kim died of a heart attack on Saturday.
"No decision has been made yet on whether to express official government condolences on the death of Chairman Kim Jong-il," the ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
The issue of condolences is one of the topics to be discussed at the NSC meeting, and the South Korean government will make a "political decision" about it, the official said.
The foreign ministry has been in talks with ambassadors of other affected nations, including the United States, China, Japan and Russia, to discuss the current situation, the official said.
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