North Korea's longtime ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam has died, Pyongyang says

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

58% : In February 2018, he traveled to South Korea with Kim Jong Un's influential sister, Kim Yo Jong, to attend the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Olympics as Pyongyang sought better ties with Seoul and Washington after years of heightened animosities on the Korean Peninsula.
57% : Kim Yong Nam, who was known for propaganda-filled speeches with a deep, booming voice at key state events, often appeared in state media greeting visiting foreign dignitaries on behalf of Kim Jong Un and his late father Kim Jong Il.
57% : The trip made Kim Yong Nam the highest-level North Korean official to visit South Korea since Kim Jong Un sent a top military officer to attend the closing ceremony of the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
56% : North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, waves while Kim Yong Nam, third left, clap during a military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea on April 15, 2017.
47% : In April 2019, he was replaced by Choe Ryong Hae, one of Kim Jong Un's close confidants who had previously served as the top political officer of the North's 1.2 million-member military.
44% : Kim Jong Un, grandson of state founder Kim Il Sung, took power upon his father Kim Jong Il's death in 2011 in the country's second hereditary power transfer.
38% : Kim Yong Nam is not related to Kim Jong Un, the third generation of his family to rule North Korea.
37% : The Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday that Kim Yong Nam, former president of the Presidium of North Korea's rubber-stamp Supreme People's Assembly, died Monday of multiple organ failure at the age of 97. KCNA said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the bier of Kim Yong Nam on Tuesday to express deep condolences over his death.
35% : North Korea's temporary diplomatic openness peaked with the summits between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump in 2018 and 2019, but Kim Yong Nam did not attend them and his influence was seen as waning due to his age.

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