ID :
27353
Thu, 10/30/2008 - 10:09
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/27353
The shortlink copeid
Member of N. Korea's old guard dies
By Shim Sun-ah
SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- A former North Korean vice president and a key actor in late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung's fight against Japanese colonial rule has died of chronic disease, official media reported. He was 95.
"Pak Song-chol, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the
Workers' Party of Korea and honorary vice-president of the Presidium of the
Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), died of long illness at 5 a.m. on Oct. 28," read
an obituary carried Tuesday by the North's official Korean Central News Agency
(KCNA).
The obituary included the names of the Workers' Party Central Committee, the SPA
Presidium and the North Korean Cabinet, and also announced that a state funeral
would be held for Pak on Thursday.
North Korea's titular head of state, Kim Yong-nam, will chair a 65-member state
funeral committee composed of ranking party, military and government officials,
the report said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who is Kim Il-sung's son, sent a wreath in honor
of Pak on Wednesday, the KCNA said in a separate report. The junior Kim is widely
suspected to be ailing.
Born in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, in what is today South Korea, Pak
joined in Kim Il-sung's campaign to liberate Korea from Japanese colonial rule in
the 1930s.
After Korea's liberation in 1945, Pak served in a number of top party, military
and government posts. Among those were serving as ambassador to Bulgaria, the
director of the international department of the Communist Party, foreign
minister, premier and state vice president.
He was fifth in the list of the North's state funeral committee for the late
North Korean leader in 1994 and fourth in the funeral of O Jin-wu, a former top
military leader, in 1995.
In 1972, he made an unofficial visit to Seoul to discuss inter-Korean exchange
programs and met with then South Korean President Park Chung-hee.
Pak essentially retired from public service in 1998 when he was named an honorary
vice chairman of the SPA Presidium.
"He was a faithful revolutionary soldier who devoted his whole life to the cause
of national liberation and working class liberation and socialist construction and
the independent reunification of the country under the leadership of President Kim
Il-sung," the obituary said.
"Pak's whole life was the life of a Juche (self-reliance)-type revolutionary who
devotedly worked for the Party and the leader and the country and its people," it
noted. "Though he passed away, the precious exploits performed by him for the
Workers' Party and the revolutionary cause will always be remembered."
SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- A former North Korean vice president and a key actor in late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung's fight against Japanese colonial rule has died of chronic disease, official media reported. He was 95.
"Pak Song-chol, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the
Workers' Party of Korea and honorary vice-president of the Presidium of the
Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), died of long illness at 5 a.m. on Oct. 28," read
an obituary carried Tuesday by the North's official Korean Central News Agency
(KCNA).
The obituary included the names of the Workers' Party Central Committee, the SPA
Presidium and the North Korean Cabinet, and also announced that a state funeral
would be held for Pak on Thursday.
North Korea's titular head of state, Kim Yong-nam, will chair a 65-member state
funeral committee composed of ranking party, military and government officials,
the report said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who is Kim Il-sung's son, sent a wreath in honor
of Pak on Wednesday, the KCNA said in a separate report. The junior Kim is widely
suspected to be ailing.
Born in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, in what is today South Korea, Pak
joined in Kim Il-sung's campaign to liberate Korea from Japanese colonial rule in
the 1930s.
After Korea's liberation in 1945, Pak served in a number of top party, military
and government posts. Among those were serving as ambassador to Bulgaria, the
director of the international department of the Communist Party, foreign
minister, premier and state vice president.
He was fifth in the list of the North's state funeral committee for the late
North Korean leader in 1994 and fourth in the funeral of O Jin-wu, a former top
military leader, in 1995.
In 1972, he made an unofficial visit to Seoul to discuss inter-Korean exchange
programs and met with then South Korean President Park Chung-hee.
Pak essentially retired from public service in 1998 when he was named an honorary
vice chairman of the SPA Presidium.
"He was a faithful revolutionary soldier who devoted his whole life to the cause
of national liberation and working class liberation and socialist construction and
the independent reunification of the country under the leadership of President Kim
Il-sung," the obituary said.
"Pak's whole life was the life of a Juche (self-reliance)-type revolutionary who
devotedly worked for the Party and the leader and the country and its people," it
noted. "Though he passed away, the precious exploits performed by him for the
Workers' Party and the revolutionary cause will always be remembered."
