The former formal head of the DPRK, Kim Yong Nam, has died at the age of 97.

Former Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK Kim Yong Nam died on November 3 at the age of 98. This was reported on November 4 by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

It is noted that the cause of death of the politician was cancer. The funeral will be held with state honors. The commission for the organization of the ceremony included the country's leader Kim Jong-un.

Kim Yong Nam was born in 1928 in Pyongyang. He taught at a rural school, then studied in Russia at Tomsk and Rostov State Universities. Since the early 1960s, he served as the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK.

From 1983 to 1998, Kim Yong Nam headed the Administrative Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Korea, and later became Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, holding this post until 2019. For his services to the state, he was awarded the Order of the National Flag, first class, one of the highest awards in North Korea.

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