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The veteran North Korean politician Kim Yong-nam, honorary head of state North Korea and key figure in North Korean diplomacy for decades, died this Monday at 97 years because of a multiorgan failure derived from a colorectal cancer.
Kim Yong-nam, born in 1928 into a family involved in the anti-Japanese movement, was part of the North Korean state apparatus since the 1950s and held positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party.
Was chancellor and deputy prime minister before being appointed, in 1998, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), the North Korean Parliament of mere formality, in a position that he held until 2019, when he retired at the age of 91, and from which he served as the country’s representative head of state for decades.
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un visited his coffin and left a wreath this Tuesday to express “deep condolences for his death”, accompanied by senior Party and Government officials, according to a brief statement from the state news agency KCNA. The funeral will be held on Wednesday.
Diplomatic
Throughout his career Kim Yong-nam represented North Korea in dozens of international forums and was the head of the North Korean delegation to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, where he met with then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in at a time of thaw in inter-Korean relations.
From the South, the South Korean Unification Minister, Chung Dong-young, expressed this Tuesday, in a statement, its condolences for his death, remembering that Kim Yong-nam led the delegation at the Olympic Games and? contributed to opening inter-Korean dialogue.
“I also remember meeting former (SPA) Chairman Kim Yong-nam in Pyongyang on two occasions — in June 2005 and September 2018 — and having meaningful talks on peace on the Korean Peninsula and the development of inter-Korean relations,” Chung said.
Kim Yong-nam was one of the few figures to serve under all three generations of the North Korean ruling dynasty: the founder Kim Il-sung, his son and father of the current leader, Kim Jong-il, y Kim Jong-un.