Kim Yong-nam
Kim Yong-nam | |
|---|---|
 Kim Yong-nam, in 2013 | |
| Born |
1928 |
| Died | November 3, 2025 (aged 96–97) |
| Occupation | politician |
| Known for | served as North Korea's head of state |
Kim Yong Nam served as North Korea's president of the Presidium of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly, from 1998 to 2019.[1] This position was roughly equivalent to the USA's speaker of the house, and, nominally, North Korea's official head of state.[1] He was not a member of North Korea's prominent Kim family.
However, in the North Korean system, real power was exercised by Kim Jong-un, and previously by Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, his grandfather and father.[1]
In 1994 read an elegy to Kim Il Sung.[1]
In 2018 South Korea hosted the Olympics.[1] In a symbolic move North Korea and South Korea presented a joint team. Kim and Kim Yo-jong, the powerful younger sister of the current leader, were the tow most prominent North Korean leaders, who symbolically lead the North Koreans on the team.
According to Japan Times he was "the only known senior North Korean official who was never purged, sent down, or disciplined by Kim Jong Il or Kim Il Sung,"[2]
Kim attended Kim Il Sung University and Moscow State University.[1]
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
Hyung-Jin Kim; Kim Tong-Hyung (2025-11-03). "North Korea's longtime ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam has died". CityNews Halifax. Seoul, South Korea. Archived from the original on 2026-01-01. Retrieved 2026-01-01.
Born in 1928 into “a patriotic family” resisting then Japanese colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, Kim Yong Nam held a string of top posts since he joined the ruling Workers’ Party in the mid-1950s, according to KCNA. His tenure as head of North Korea’s parliament made him the country’s nominal head of state and allowed him to appear frequently in state media greeting visiting foreign dignitaries.
- ↑
"North Korea says former ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam has died". The Japan Times. Seoul, South Korea. 2025-11-04. Archived from the original on 2025-11-04. Retrieved 2026-01-01.
Kim Yong Nam, the former chairman of the Presidium of the country's Supreme People’s Assembly and a longtime diplomat who served all three of the country's leaders, died Monday at the age of 97, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported.