Kim Yong-nam

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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.^[5][6] Kim's official biography states that he was born in Pyongyang, Korea, Empire of Japan (now North Korea).^[6] According to North Korean state media, his family resisted Japanese occupation.^[7] His family came from the Jeonju Kim clan, making him a very distant relative of the Kim family.^[8] He came to North Korea with the Chinese People's Volunteer Army during the Korean War and chose to stay.^[6] 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.^[6]

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.^[6] 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.^[8] According to declassified Soviet documents from this period, Kim was "sociable and cheerful, but he is quick-tempered and can sometimes lack self-restraint".^[8]

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.^[9] 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.^[10] In 1988, he was responsible for the arrangement of unofficial diplomatic contacts with the United States through their respective embassies in Beijing.^[11]

President of the Presidium

On 5 September 1998, 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.^[10] The President of the Presidium is sometimes considered the "number two official".^[12] 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.^[10] He was assessed as having high-level political and diplomatic skills.^[6] 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.^[8]

Diplomatic activity

Kim visited Mongolia, Russia,^[13] Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Singapore in 2007.^[14] On March 18, 2008, he embarked on a goodwill tour of four African states.^[15] Arriving in Namibia on March 20, he was present for the official completion of a new presidential residence that was built by North Korea.^[16] He also held talks with Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba and signed an agreement on public health cooperation with Pohamba.^[15][16] 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.^[15]

Kim also attended the 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony on August 8, 2008,^[17] 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony on February 7, 2014,^[18] 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony on February 9, 2018,^[19] and the 2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony on June 14, 2018.^[20] On July 14, 2009, Kim met Vietnamese president Nguyen Minh Triet on the sidelines of the 15th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Egypt.^[21] 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.^[22] He attended the May 19, 2016 presidential inauguration of Equatoguinean president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.^[23] As representative of North Korea, he attended the investiture ceremony of Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president of Mexico on December 1, 2018.^[24]

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).^[6] 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.^[25] In 2024, he attended a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s death.^[8]

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.^[26] KCNA also reported North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the bier of Kim Yong-nam at the Sojang Funeral Hall to express deep condolences over his death.^[27] He was buried at the Patriotic Martyrs' Cemetery in Pyongyang, following a state funeral on November 5.^[28]

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As President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, Kim Yong Nam conducted numerous foreign visits to represent the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

• Kim Yong-nam (1985). "Interview with Yong-Nam Kim, Vice-Premier and Foreign Minister of the Democratic Peoples's Republic of Korea". Journal of Northeast Asian Studies. 4 (3): 66–75. doi:10.1007/BF03025039. S2CID 198509640.
• — (September 1988). "The International Prestige and Influence of the DPRK Are Increasing Daily" (PDF). Kulloja. OCLC 9516938. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 5, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2022.

• Politics of North Korea