By Joyce Lee and Josh Smith
SEOUL (Reuters) -Kim Yong Nam, the only person outside of the ruling Kim family dynasty to serve as North Korea's nominal head of state, has died, state media reported on Tuesday.
Kim Yong Nam, the former chairman of the Presidium of the country's Supreme People’s Assembly and a long-time diplomat who served all three of the country's leaders, died on Monday at the age of 97, state media KCNA said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Kim Yong Nam's bier to express condolences early on Tuesday, KCNA said.
UNIQUE POSITION AS CEREMONIAL HEAD OF STATE
Never more than a figurehead in a country tightly controlled by a family dictatorship, Kim Yong Nam's unique position as the ceremonial head of state from 1998 until his retirement in 2019 made him the face of key diplomatic moments.
"Despite having a largely ceremonial role in the latter part of his career, Kim Yong Nam had a high degree of influence through patronage connections to North Korea’s diplomats and foreign service personnel," said Michael Madden, a North Korean leadership expert with the U.S.-based Stimson Center.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, extended his country's "deep condolences" and said Kim Yong Nam was an old friend of Beijing who "made significant contributions to the development of traditional friendly and cooperative relations between China and North Korea".
South Korea's Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, responsible for relations with North Korea - which has refused to talk to Seoul for years - also offered his condolences and recalled meeting Kim Yong Nam during inter-Korean events when relations were better.
Born in 1928 under Japanese colonial rule, Kim Yong Nam served in key foreign ministry positions and helped shape North Korea's diplomacy under the state's founder Kim Il Sung, before effectively taking charge of summit diplomacy and representing the isolated North under Kim Jong Il.
"He was the only known senior North Korean official who was never purged, sent down, or disciplined by Kim Jong Il or Kim Il Sung," Madden said.
Under Kim Jong Un, Kim Yong Nam continued to serve as the diplomatic face of North Korea, welcoming top-level visitors to Pyongyang and visiting South Korea in 2018 as head of the North Korean delegation to the Winter Olympics, where he held a meeting with then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
North Korea will hold a state funeral, KCNA said.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Michael Perry and Alex Richardson)
