Korean official in charge of ties with South dies — Pyongyang

In this Oct. 4, 2014 file photo, Kim Yang Gon, center, a secretary of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, arrives at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea. The North Korea’s top official in charge of relations with South Korea has died of a car accident, the Korean Central News Agency announced Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015. He was 73. AP

SEOUL, South Korea — A top North Korean official in charge of ties with South Korea and reunification was killed in a traffic accident, Pyongyang’s state media said Wednesday.

“Comrade Kim Yang-Gon, a Workers’ Party secretary and member of the party Central Committee Politbureau… died in a traffic accident at 6:15 am Tuesday at age 73,” the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

KCNA said leader Kim Jong-Un would head an 80-member state funeral for Kim on Thursday.

A career party diplomat, Kim has been known as a key confidante to the leader in the Stalinist state, advising him on inter-Korean relations and more recently on international relations in general.

He played a leading role in realising the 2007 summit between the then leader Kim Jong-Il and South Korean president Roh Moo-Hyun.