Kim Yong-sun (1934 – 26 October 2003) was a North Korean politician. At the time of his death, he was vice-chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland. He was reported to have been killed in a car accident.[1] He also held a position as a secretary (subordinate to the general secretary) of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).[2]
Kim Yong-sun | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 5 July 1934 |
| Died | 26 October 2003 (aged 68–69) |
| Occupation | Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland |
| Political party | Workers' Party of Korea |
| Korean name | |
| Chosŏn'gŭl | 김용순 |
| Hancha | 金容淳 |
| Revised Romanization | Gim Yongsun |
| McCune–Reischauer | Kim Yongsun |
Career edit
Kim was born in 1934 in South Pyongan, when the Korean Peninsula was still under Japanese rule.[1][3] He was elevated to the WPK's Central Committee in October 1980.[4] He was a recipient of the Kim Il-sung Order, the highest decoration of the North Korean government.[1]
According to author Bradley K. Martin, Kim was interned in a 're-education camp' for three years from 1979 because he had an affair with a female colleague.[5] According to author Don Oberdorfer, he was flamboyant and was demoted in the mid-1980s for decadent behavior. However, his career was saved because of his friendship with Kim Jong-il and his sister Kim Kyong-hui.[6] In 1992, he visited New York City to prepare for North Korea's accession to the United Nations and held the highest-level US-DPRK diplomatic meetings to that time with Arnold Kanter, Richard Solomon, Douglas Paal, and James Lilley of the U.S. State Department.[7]
Kim played an instrumental role in the planning of the first Inter-Korean summit between Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il in June 2000.[1] He came to the South in September that year as part of an official Northern delegation, and inspected POSCO facilities in Pohang; he was the first secretary of the WPK to take an inspection tour in the South since Ho Dam in 1985.[2] After reportedly being involved in a car accident in June 2003, he was hospitalised, and succumbed to his injuries on 23 October 2003.[1]
References edit
- ^ a b c d e Len, Samuel (2003-10-28), "Pyongyang official dies of crash injuries", The New York Times, retrieved 2010-06-08
- ^ a b "김위원장 "추석에 서울 다녀오라"", Kyunghyang Shinmun, 2000-09-13, retrieved 2010-06-08
- ^ Bak, Hyeon-min (2008-11-18), 김정일 "김용순 안죽었으면 지금 한몫 할 것", The Daily NK, retrieved 2010-06-08
- ^ 북한 김정일 위원장 "김용순 살아있었으면..." [Kim Jong-il: "If Kim Yong-sun had not died ..."], Seoul Broadcasting System, 2008-11-17, retrieved 2010-06-08
- ^ Martin, Bradley K. (2004), Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty, New York, New York: Thomas Dunne Books, p. 201, ISBN 0-312-32322-0
- ^ Oberdorfer, Don; Carlin, Robert (2014), The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History, Basic Books, pp. 185–186, ISBN 9780465031238
- ^ Cha, Victor D. (2013), The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future, Internet Archive, New York: Ecco, pp. 283–284, ISBN 978-0-06-199850-8, LCCN 2012009517, OCLC 1244862785