North Korea leader Kim’s aide dies in road mishap

It added that a state funeral led by Kim Jong Un would take place on Thursday.

Most recently, Kim participated in talks in August to cool tensions after an exchange of artillery fire near the two countries’ borders, and his death could mark a setback in improving North-South relations. BBC notes that the statement described Kim as “a Workers’ Party secretary and member of the party Central Committee Politbureau”. The late Kim Jong-il passed away in late 2011.

None of those speculations has been independently confirmed as it’s nearly impossible to verify what is exactly happening among the ruling elite in the secretive, authoritarian North. But similar speculations again appeared in the South Korean media following Kim Yang Gon’s death, though without any substantial evidences.

Analysts in Seoul say strained ties between the rival Koreas could continue following the death.

The list also included Won Dong Yon, a deputy director of the United Front Department of the Korean Workers’ Party. Kim’s death was reported Wednesday by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency. This is Seoul’s first such message for a North Korean official since 2007, when then-Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun died. Seoul’s unification ministry offered its condolences on Wednesday.

And Mr Kim had his powerful uncle Jang Song Thaek executed in December 2012 on charges of treason and corruption, allowing Mr Choe to emerge as his right-hand man.

But Mr. Klingner also noted that the laudatory language for Kim Yang Gon suggests “an accidental rather than planned death”.

But following discussions have made little progress in resolving key problems, including reunions for families separated by war as well as the resumption of cross border tours.

A source inside North Korea had said Choe was serving a sentence of hard labor at a mine, after being purged for a power plant malfunction near Mount Paektu.

Yet a few events could bring about a turnaround in the mood, including an envisioned visit by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the communist state and one-on-one talks with leader Kim Jong-un.

“The likelihood of North Korea’s fourth nuclear test is not so high in light of the increasing security cooperation between the South, the USA and Japan, and the resulting additional worldwide sanctions”.