Kim Yong-nam

Kim Yong-nam (Template:Korean; February 4, 1928 – November 3, 2025) was a North Korean politician who served as the president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea, from 1998 until 2019.<ref name="6 Jan 2007">Template:Cite news</ref> Due to holding the office, he was considered the head of state of North Korea; the country's constitution was amended once he left office in 2019 to transfer this position to the President of the State Affairs Commission, Kim Jong Un. Previously, he had served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1983 to 1998.<ref name='KoreaHerald2007-10-04'>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref> He was elected a member of the Presidium of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in 2010.

Life and career

Accounts of Kim's early life vary. According to Fyodor Tertitskiy of NK News, he was born Kim Myong-sam to a Korean-Chinese family in the village of Dapu Shihe in Manchuria, in what is now the Liaoning province of China, on February 4, 1928.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="nknews-201904">Template:Cite news</ref> Kim's official biography states that he was born in Pyongyang, Korea, Empire of Japan (now North Korea).<ref name="nknews-201904" /> According to North Korean state media, his family resisted Japanese occupation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His family came from the Jeonju Kim clan, making him a very distant relative of the Kim family.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> He came to North Korea with the Chinese People's Volunteer Army during the Korean War and chose to stay.<ref name="nknews-201904" /> Shortly before the end of the war in 1953, he went to the USSR to study. His experience with the Soviet Union (including many years of study at Russian universities) and China propelled his career in foreign affairs.<ref name="nknews-201904" />

In 1956, he became a section chief at the Foreign Department of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and was a vice minister for foreign affairs by 1962.<ref name="nknews-201904" /> In 1972, he became the chairman of the WPK Central Committee’s Foreign Department and a deputy to the Supreme People's Assembly. In June 1974, he became an alternate member of the WPK Politburo, becoming a full member by 1978, and a party secretary by 1980.<ref name=":1" /> According to declassified Soviet documents from this period, Kim was "sociable and cheerful, but he is quick-tempered and can sometimes lack self-restraint".<ref name=":1" />

After graduating from university, he worked as a teacher at the Central Party School, vice-department director of the WPK Central Committee, vice-minister of foreign affairs, and first vice-department director, department director and secretary of the WPK Central Committee, vice premier of the administration council and concurrently Minister of Foreign Affairs.<ref>"Profiles of Presidium and Members of Political Bureau" Template:Webarchive, KCNA, September 29, 2010.</ref> His elevation to Minister of Foreign Affairs is believed to have occurred as part of a reorganization of the diplomatic bureaucracy after the Rangoon bombing in October 1983.<ref name="Oberdorfer">Template:Cite book</ref> In 1988, he was responsible for the arrangement of unofficial diplomatic contacts with the United States through their respective embassies in Beijing.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

President of the Presidium

On 5 September 1985, Kim was appointed as the President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly. As president of the Presidium, Kim Yong-nam was sometimes called the "nominal head of state" of North Korea.<ref name="Oberdorfer" /> The President of the Presidium is sometimes considered the "number two official".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The journalist and academic Don Oberdorfer described Kim as enigmatic, rigid in his official role, personally pleasant, highly intelligent, and an important figure behind the scenes in Pyongyang.<ref name="Oberdorfer" /> He was assessed as having high-level political and diplomatic skills.<ref name="nknews-201904" /> According to South Korean politician Pak Jie-won, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il referred to Kim Yong-nam as the "Respected Chairman of the Presidium" (상임위원장님), a level of deference almost never extended to other subordinates.<ref name=":1" />

Diplomatic activity

Kim visited Mongolia, Russia,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Singapore in 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On March 18, 2008, he embarked on a goodwill tour of four African states.<ref name=Returns>"N Korean leader returns after visiting four African countries", Yonhap (AsiaPulse via COMTEX), April 2, 2008.</ref> Arriving in Namibia on March 20, he was present for the official completion of a new presidential residence that was built by North Korea.<ref name=Namibia>"Namibia, NKorea hail friendship", Sapa (IOL), March 21, 2008.</ref> He also held talks with Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba and signed an agreement on public health cooperation with Pohamba.<ref name=Returns/><ref name=Namibia/> He subsequently visited Angola, where he met President José Eduardo dos Santos on March 24, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he met President Joseph Kabila on March 26, and Uganda, where he met President Yoweri Museveni on March 29. He returned to North Korea on April 1.<ref name=Returns/>

Kim also attended the 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony on August 8, 2008,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony on February 7, 2014,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony on February 9, 2018,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the 2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony on June 14, 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On July 14, 2009, Kim met Vietnamese president Nguyen Minh Triet on the sidelines of the 15th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Egypt.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Kim represented North Korea at the 2015 Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 9, 2015, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He attended the May 19, 2016 presidential inauguration of Equatoguinean president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As representative of North Korea, he attended the investiture ceremony of Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president of Mexico on December 1, 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Retirement and death

Kim retired on April 11, 2019, in a government reshuffle, aged 91, after almost 21 years as President of the SPA Presidium and almost 41 years as Party Politburo member (having first been elected to the body in August 1978).<ref name="nknews-201904" /> During the 2022 celebration of the Day of the Foundation of the Republic, he participated in the central concert and banquet which took place in the yard of the Mansudae Assembly Hall.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2024, he attended a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s death.<ref name=":1" />

According to Korean Central News Agency, Kim had been receiving treatment for colon cancer in his hospital bed since June 2024. He died from multiple organ failures on November 3, 2025, at the age of 97.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> KCNA also reported North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the bier of Kim Yong-nam to express deep condolences over his death.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was buried at the Patriotic Martyrs' Cemetery in Pyongyang, following a state funeral on November 5.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Works

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See also

• Politics of North Korea

External links

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