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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Aide to Kim Jong-un Dies in Car Accident | Aide to Kim Jong-un Dies in Car Accident |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| SEOUL, South Korea — A senior North Korean governing party secretary and key foreign policy aide to the country’s young and relatively inexperienced leader, Kim Jong-un, has died in a car accident, the country’s official news media reported Wednesday. | |
| The death of Kim Yang-gon, head of the United Front Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea, deprived Mr. Kim of one of his most seasoned advisers in his country’s relations with the outside world. The department is in charge of handling North Korea’s dealings with the South. | The death of Kim Yang-gon, head of the United Front Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea, deprived Mr. Kim of one of his most seasoned advisers in his country’s relations with the outside world. The department is in charge of handling North Korea’s dealings with the South. |
| Kim Yang-gon, 73, was a familiar face for negotiators from South Korea who have haggled with the North for years over issues such as its pursuit of nuclear weapons and the two Koreas’ efforts to arrange temporary reunions of relatives separated by the Korean War six decades ago. | Kim Yang-gon, 73, was a familiar face for negotiators from South Korea who have haggled with the North for years over issues such as its pursuit of nuclear weapons and the two Koreas’ efforts to arrange temporary reunions of relatives separated by the Korean War six decades ago. |
| The North Korean news media did not provide details of Mr. Kim’s death; however, it called him “a loyal revolutionary warrior” and one of the leader Mr. Kim’s “closest comrades.” | The North Korean news media did not provide details of Mr. Kim’s death; however, it called him “a loyal revolutionary warrior” and one of the leader Mr. Kim’s “closest comrades.” |
| As recently as August, the party secretary joined the North Korean delegation at talks with the South that defused a military standoff between the two, which was originally caused by an explosion of land mines that maimed two South Korean soldiers on the border. | As recently as August, the party secretary joined the North Korean delegation at talks with the South that defused a military standoff between the two, which was originally caused by an explosion of land mines that maimed two South Korean soldiers on the border. |
| South Korean analysts believe that seasoned policy aides like Kim Yang-gon served as a calming voice for Kim Jong-un, advising him on when to employ gestures of reconciliation and when to use brinkmanship and saber rattling to shore up his leadership image in the highly militarized country. | South Korean analysts believe that seasoned policy aides like Kim Yang-gon served as a calming voice for Kim Jong-un, advising him on when to employ gestures of reconciliation and when to use brinkmanship and saber rattling to shore up his leadership image in the highly militarized country. |
| Jeong Joon-hee, a South Korean government spokesman, said it was “too early to determine how Mr. Kim’s death will affect inter-Korean relations.” He said that the unification minister, Hong Yong-pyo, the South’s lead official on North Korean affairs, had sent condolences to Pyongyang. | |
| The deaths of senior figures in North Korea’s secretive government have often been followed by speculation that the official might have fallen out of favor with the top leadership, and that an assassination might have been disguised as an accident. But the laudatory treatment of Kim Yang-gon in the North’s state news media on Wednesday, and the announcement that Kim Jong-un would lead his funeral committee, made that appear unlikely in this case, and there was little speculation along those lines in the South’s news reports. | |
| With the news of Kim Yang-gon’s death, North Korean news media delivered another surprise: The list of senior officials joining the funeral committee included Choe Ryong-hae. | With the news of Kim Yang-gon’s death, North Korean news media delivered another surprise: The list of senior officials joining the funeral committee included Choe Ryong-hae. |
| Mr. Choe, once considered No. 2 in the North Korean hierarchy, disappeared suddenly from public view this year. Last month, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers in Seoul that it believed that Kim Jong-un had banished Mr. Choe to a collective farm for re-education. | Mr. Choe, once considered No. 2 in the North Korean hierarchy, disappeared suddenly from public view this year. Last month, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers in Seoul that it believed that Kim Jong-un had banished Mr. Choe to a collective farm for re-education. |