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In
this Oct. 4, 2014 photo, Kim Yang Gon, centre, a secretary of North Korea’s
ruling Workers' Party, arrives at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon,
South Korea. (Kim Do-hoon/Yonhap via AP) KOREA OUT
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North Korea's top
official in charge of relations with South Korea has died in a traffic
accident, the country's state media announced Wednesday, potentially dimming
the prospect for ties between the rival countries. He was 73.
Associated
Press report continues:
Kim
Yang Gon, head of the United Front Department at the ruling Workers' Party,
died Tuesday morning, the Korean Central News Agency reported. It said a state
funeral will be held Thursday for him but gave no further details about his
death.
While
North Korea's road conditions are poor, the lack of detail helped feed
speculation in South Korean media that Kim's death was suspicious, though South
Korean officials declined to comment. Similar speculation arose in past years
following reported traffic deaths of high-level North Korean officials. It's
almost impossible to verify what is exactly happening among the secretive,
authoritarian North's ruling elite.
Before
his death, there had been no signs that Kim Yang Gon was engaged in any major
factional feuding with other officials. He was among officials who most
frequently accompanied Kim Jong Un during his inspection visits to army units
and factories, a strong indication that he was one of the leader's trusted
aides.
Wednesday's
KCNA dispatch described him as the leader's "closest comrade-in-arms and
steadfast revolutionary comrade" who had made "dedicated"
efforts to push for unification with South Korea.
Analysts
in Seoul say strained ties between the rival Koreas could continue following
the unexpected death of Kim, who had long handled relations with South Korea.
The KCNA did not say who would replace him. Earlier this month, the rival
Koreas ended rare high-level talks without any agreement.
"I
worry that we cannot avoid long suspension of a dialogue between South and
North Korea" following Kim's death, said Cheong Seong-chang, at the
private Sejong Institute in South Korea.
In
August, Kim Yang Gon attended marathon talks at the Korean border that defused
a military standoff trigged by land mine explosions blamed on Pyongyang that
maimed two South Korean soldiers. The two Koreas subsequently resumed their
first reunions of families separated by war since early 2014, but hopes of
improved ties subsided after this month's inter-Korean talks failed to reach
any breakthrough.
South
Korea's Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo sent condolences Wednesday,
according to Hong's ministry. South Korea has previously offered similar
condolences when senior North Korean officials died.
Kim
Yang Gon visited South Korea in 2009 to pay his respects to late President Kim
Dae-jung, who held the first inter-Korean summit with Kim Jong Il in 2000. He
was believed to have played a key role in arranging a second summit in 2007.
Most rapprochement agreements signed after the two summit talks remain stalled
or have never been implemented after animosities flared again between the
rivals.
The
Korean Peninsula remains in a technical state of war since the 1950-53 Korean
War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
A
list of people forming Kim Yang Gon's funeral committee includes Choe Ryong
Hae, another close associate of Kim Jong Un who South Korea's National Intelligence
Service said last month was banished to a rural collective farm for
re-education. The spy agency, which has a mixed record on tracking North Korea,
said Wednesday it was trying to check details about developments about Choe.
Choe's reported banishment
had been seen as the latest in a series of executions, purges and dismissals
that Kim Jong Un has orchestrated in what outside analysts say was a further
strengthening of his grip on power.
A Look At Past Car Accidents Involving N.
Korean Officials
North
Korea said Wednesday that the country's top official in charge of relations
with South Korea died in a traffic accident earlier this week. The Korean
Central News Agency gave no other details, triggering questions about the death
of a man who was dubbed as a close associate of absolute leader Kim Jong Un.
He's
not the only senior North Korean official reported to have died in a car
accident. While information in the secretive, authoritarian state is often
impossible to confirm, outside observers use the officials' reported feuding
with their political opponents to guess who might have been behind their
demise. They also speculate the officials might have been driving after overnight
drinking parties.
A
look at past high-profile, mysterious car accidents in North Korea:
___
June
3, 2010: KCNA says Ri Je Gang, first vice department director of the Workers'
Party's Central Committee, died in a traffic accident at age 80 the previous
day. Ri reportedly bickered with Jang Song Thaek, a powerful uncle of Kim Jong
Un, who was eventually executed by his nephew for alleged treason in 2013.
___
Dec.
26, 2009: KCNA says Ri Chol Bong, chief secretary of the Workers' Party's
Kangwon provincial committee, died in a traffic accident at age 78 the previous
day. There was little speculation on Ri, who was relatively little known to
outsiders.
___
September
2006: Jang, the executed uncle of Kim, reportedly survived a car accident,
according to South Korean media reports. Foreign analysts believe Jang was also
purged and sent to a labour camp for two years in the mid-2000s in what was seen
as a move by Kim Jong Il to clip his wings.
___
October
2003: KCNA reports Kim Yong Sun, a senior North Korean official involved in
reconciliation efforts with South Korea, died of injuries sustained in a
traffic accident four months ago. Kim Yong Sun was a close aide to then-leader
Kim Jong Il, the late father of Kim Jong Un. But Kim Jong Il's military, which
traditionally favors a hard-line stance on South Korea, had reportedly tried to
hold him in check.
Kim Yong Sun was the only
senior North Korean official who sat in at the historic summit between Kim Jong
Il and then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in 2000.
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