News Digest

Mystery as ‘closest comrade’ of N Korea’s Kim Jong-un dies in car crash

A senior North Korean official has died in a car crash - the latest misfortune to hit Kim Jong-Un’s close circle of deputies. Kim Yang-Gon was a secretary of the Workers’ Party and head of its United Front Department, the unit that handles the North’s sensitive ties with South Korea. He was part of a high-level delegation that held talks in August after the rival states exchanged artillery fire, raising tensions to a level not seen for years.

North Korea has a long track record of suspicious deaths around high-level officials.

North Korea expert Andrei Lankov

The state news agency, KCNA, said Kim died on Tuesday in an accident at the age of 73. No details of the accident were provided. KCNA said Kim was Kim Jong-Un’s “closest comrade, a solid revolutionary partner” and that the secretive state’s leader would head an 80-member state funeral on Thursday. Kim Jong-Un has dismissed a string of aides in top positions since he took over following his father’s sudden death in 2011. In 2013, he purged and executed his uncle Jang Song-Thaek, who was once considered the second most powerful man in the country for “anti-revolutionary crimes.”