Was the North Korean Official Assassinated?

Bruce Klingner

Security, North Korea

Kim Yang-gon’s demise raises suspicions, particularly since other officials have suffered a similar end.

North Korea announced on Dec. 29 that its most senior official in charge of inter-Korean relations had died in a car accident. Kim Yang-gon was head of the United Front Department of the ruling Korea Workers’ Party, a member of the North Korean Central Committee and alternate member of the Politburo. He had most recently negotiated with senior South Korean officials in August to defuse a crisis caused by a North Korean incursion into the demilitarized zone and exchange of artillery fire.

Kim Yang-gon’s demise raises suspicions that he was killed by the regime, particularly since several other officials over the years have suffered a similar end. But, prior to his death, there were no indications that Kim was distrusted or in danger of being purged. In addition to the August 2015 negotiations, he had also participated in a senior delegation that made a surprise visit to South Korea in Oct. 2014. He had recently escorted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on inspection tours to military and civilian sites, suggesting that he remained a trusted aide. His frequency of accompanying the leader had increased under Kim Jong-un’s reign as compared with the era of Kim Jong-il.

Parsing natural deaths from a forced demise amongst the senior leadership of North Korea is always difficult, particularly nowadays given Kim Jong-un’s extensive purging.

Kim Yang-gon’s death in a car accident might be interpreted as paying the ultimate price for the collapse of the inter-Korean mini-detente following the August agreement.