North Korea's state media reported Tuesday that the North's former titular head of state, Kim Yong-nam, who had led Pyongyang's diplomacy for decades, has died at the age of 97, with leader Kim Jong-un expressing deep condolences over his death earlier in the day.
Kim Yong-nam, former chairman of the North's rubber-stamp Supreme People's Assembly, died the previous day from multiple organ failure related to cancer-linked poisoning, the North's Korean Central News Agency reported.
Kim Yong-nam has been battling colorectal cancer since June last year.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited his bier at 1 a.m. Tuesday to express "deep condolences," accompanied by major senior party and government officials, the KCNA said.
Kim Yong-nam visited South Korea as head of the North's delegation to the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
The parliamentary standing committee and the cabinet decided to hold a state funeral for Kim Yong-nam on Tuesday, and his coffin will leave the facility Wednesday to be laid to rest. The state funeral committee is composed of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Premier Pak Thae-song, current parliamentary standing committee chairman Choe Ryong-hae and other officials.
Hours after the report, South Korea's Unification Minister Chung Dong-young extended his condolences over Kim's death, saying that he had contributed to the development of inter-Korean ties.
"I express my condolences over the death of Kim," Chung said in a message released to the press on behalf of the government, adding that Kim's visit to South Korea as head of North Korea's delegation to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics helped open inter-Korean dialogue at that time.
A ministry official said the government issued the condolences in the minister's name, instead of sending them directly to North Korea, as communication lines with Pyongyang remain shuttered.
Born into a family of "anti-Japanese patriots," Kim Yong-nam had attended Kim Il Sung University and studied in Moscow, Russia, before beginning his public service career in diplomacy.
He had since served in high-profile diplomatic posts spanning the regimes of national founder Kim Il-sung, late leader Kim Jong-il and current leader Kim Jong-un.
Under Kim Il-sung's government, he served as foreign minister.
For 21 years since the start of Kim Jong-il's rule, he served as chairman of the parliamentary standing committee, a position that at that time represented the head of state, albeit in a titular capacity.
Under Kim Jong-il, the former parliamentary standing committee chairman handled most summit diplomacy on behalf of the leader, who tended to stay away from external affairs, effectively emerging as North Korea's representative on the international stage.
In 2018, he visited South Korea as head of a North Korean delegation to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, which included Kim Yo-jong -- the powerful sister of the leader -- and held a meeting with then President Moon Jae-in.
He retired from six decades of public service at the age of 91 in 2019.
"Comrade Kim Yong-nam, an old-generation revolutionary who left extraordinary achievements in the development history of our party and country, wrapped up his noble life at age of 97," the KCNA said. (Yonhap)
