North Korean leader offers condolences following death of top aide

By Rachel Lee

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un offered his “deepest” condolences Wednesday following the death of his top aide, who was in charge of handling relations with South Korea.

Kim Yang-gon, secretary of the ruling Workers’ party, died in a car crash Tuesday, the North’s Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday.

His sudden death came weeks after inter-Korean high-level talks ended in mid-December with no progress having been made in improving ties, chilling the conciliatory mood expected after an inter-Korean deal reached Aug. 25.

The state news agency said that the leader described the secretary as his “dearest and most trustworthy comrade-in-arms.” It also reported that the leader could not “suppress his inconsolable grief,” who said his death was a “great loss” to the party and the people.

North Korea and the party will “always remember” the life of Kim, who had been “loyal to the party and the revolution with his firm belief in the justice of what he had done,” the agency added.

The North Korean leader also met with the secretary’s family to pay his respects.

The late Kim, 73, was one of the two ranking North Korean officials at the rare inter-Korean dialogue held in August to defuse military tension and promote civilian exchanges. He played a leading role in realizing the 2007 summit between then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun.

He was put in charge of the Workers’ Party’s United Front Department in 2007 and was instrumental in setting up the October Korea summit later that year.

The reported inclusion of Choe Ryrong-hae, Pyongyang’s sixth-in-command, on Kim Yang-gon’s funeral committee has fueled speculation that he is back in the leadership fold. Choe was reportedly sentenced to hard labor at a collective farm in November for poorly managing the construction of a newly built hydroelectric power plant in Ryanggang Province.