Top aide to N Korea’s Kim dies in crash

With the news of Kim Yang Gon’s death, North Korean news media delivered another surprise: The list of senior officials joining the funeral committee included Choe Ryong Hae.

While one analyst expressed concern Kim Yang Gon paid with his life for the failure of the peace talks, another predicted his death could worsen ties between the two Koreas. 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.

“He was surely trusted by the Kim family regime”, said Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

“This is going to deliver negative impacts on inter-Korean relations”, Yang Moo Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP news agency.

Analysts said his departure could prompt a deterioration in the relations of North Korea with its neighbour.

FILE – In this October 4, 2014 file photo, Kim Yang Gon, center, a secretary of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, arrives at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea.

In December 2013, Kim Jong Un executed his uncle, Jang Song Thaek.

KCNA used very different language for Kim Yang Gon on Wednesday, characterizing him as a “closest comrade-in-arms and steadfast revolutionary comrade”. This was the highest-level delegation dispatched to South Korea since Kim Jong Un took power in 2011.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s one-time right-hand man has made a comeback to his inner circle, it was confirmed Wednesday, after reportedly being purged and sent to a farm for “re-education”.

State media claimed that 73-year-old Kim Yang-gon had been killed in a traffic accident the previous day.

North Korea’s main newspaper showed photos of a visibly upset Kim Jong Un holding back tears beside Kim Yang Gon’s open casket.

This uncertainty has triggered some concern among North Korea watchers regarding the future of Pyongyang’s policy toward the South and inter-Korean relations. A state funeral will be held today for him but no further details have been given about how he died. Several leading figures are thought to have died in vehicle crashes that were suspicious.