North Korean leader’s ‘closest comrade’ dies in auto accident

The KCNA referred to Kim, who was a member of the party’s Central Committee Politbureau, as the “closest comrade” to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

A career diplomat, Kim Yang-Gon played a leading role in arranging the 2007 summit between then-leader Kim Jong-il and South Korean president Roh Moo-Hyun.

A career party diplomat, Kim has been known as a key confidante to the leader in the Stalinist state, advising him on inter-Korean relations and more recently on worldwide relations in general. KCNA has not said who will replace him.

Before his death, there had been no signs that Mr Kim was engaged in any major factional feuding with other officials.

“But given the magnitude of his experience, its capacity will inevitably shrink”, said Lim Eul-chul, a professor of North Korean studies at Kyungnam University.

But the tone used in official news reports today was in stark contrast to those announcing past political purges, with Kim Yang-Gon described in glowing terms.

News of the death fell on the fourth anniversary of Kim Jong Un’s rise to Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army.

Yonhap said the partying habits of North Korean elites were also to blame for their disproportionately high rate of fatal traffic accidents, often driving home drunk after exclusive parties.

North Korea held a state funeral for Kim, who is called “the closest comrade-in-arms” of the North Korean leader, earlier in the day.

But inter-Korean ties have remained strained since the two sides ended their high-level talks on December 12 without producing any agreements.

Last year, it was widely reported that Kim Jong-un’s uncle, Jang Song Thaek, was executed in a weird and cruel manner by being fed to a pack of 120 wild, hungry dogs.

While North Korea’s road conditions are poor, the lack of detail has fed speculation in South Korean media that Mr Kim’s death was suspicious, though South Korean officials declined to comment. Jeong, the ministry spokesman, said it was the first time Pyongyang had officially identified a traffic accident as the cause of death for one of its senior officials.

Free North Korea Radio said Thursday that Kim died in a auto crash on his way back to Pyongyang after visiting the northwestern border city of Sinuiju for an inspection of a factory.

He’s not the only senior North Korean official reported to have died in a vehicle accident.