Post by : Raina
Al-Fahim
Kim Yong Nam, a veteran North Korean diplomat who served as the country’s ceremonial head of state for many years, has died aged 97, state media reported on Tuesday.
State television said Kim died on Monday from multiple organ failure. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited his bier on Tuesday to offer condolences. A funeral is scheduled for Thursday in Pyongyang.
Kim held the post of President of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly — the formal head of state — from 1998 until April 2019. Actual governing power, however, has remained with the Kim family.
Long regarded as a loyal servant to the ruling dynasty, Kim worked under Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un, becoming a symbol of continuity in the regime. He was noted for his formal, ideologically charged addresses and for representing North Korea at prominent diplomatic events.
In February 2018 he led a North Korean delegation to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea alongside Kim Yo Jong, marking a rare senior-level visit to the South.
Earlier in his career, Kim served as foreign minister for 15 years beginning in 1983. As a seasoned diplomat, he helped sustain relations with countries in Africa, the Middle East and within the Non-Aligned Movement during periods of international isolation.
Born in Pyongyang, Kim studied at Kim Il Sung University and later at Moscow State University, acquiring fluency in Russian and a background in international affairs. He survived several political shifts and remained a trusted figure within the leadership.
Analysts have described Kim as a model bureaucrat whose steadfast loyalty helped him navigate North Korea’s political changes. He read the elegy at Kim Il Sung’s funeral in 1994 and later proposed Kim Jong Il’s formal appointment to head the National Defence Commission, reflecting his commitment to the ruling family.
Kim Yong Nam’s death marks the close of a lengthy chapter in North Korea’s modern political history, removing one of its most consistent state figures.
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