Seoul  - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il broke months of silence Sunday with a message to South Korean President Lee Myung Bak that was delivered orally by a high-ranking delegation from Pyongyang, a presidential spokesman said.

The message addressed progress in cooperation between the two countries, but further details were not given.

It was the first time since Bak entered office in February 2008 that the conservative South Korean president met with officials of North Korea.

The meetings, which began Saturday but did not include the South Korean president, are the first high-level talks in two years amid indications of an easing of tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The meeting took place just hours before the state funeral for former South Korean president Kim Dae Jung, a man who worked hard to promote North-South relations. On Friday, the six-member delegation from Pyongyang paid the North's final respects to Kim who died on Tuesday.

On Saturday, South Korea's Minister of Unification Hyun In Taek met Kim Yang Gon, the head of the unification front department of North Korea's ruling Korean Workers' Party. (dpa)