hankyoreh

By Ha Eo-young, staff reporter

Kim Yong-nam, chairman of the presidium in North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), may not have been chosen as a deputy in the recent elections for the 13th SPA, the South Korean government is suggesting.

In addition to the 86-year-old Kim, an intelligence official said that Kim Kyong-hee, a Workers’ Party of Korea Secretary, may also have been excluded from the elections. Kim Kyong-hee is the aunt of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and widow of former WPK administrative department chief Jang Song-thaek, who was executed last year.

“If you look at the representative election results, there is a ‘Kim Yong-nam’ who was elected for the No. 55 Unha district (Academy of Sciences), but it may be a different person with the same name,” an intelligence official said on Mar. 13.

“We’ll need to see if he’s present at the first meeting, which is expected to take place in early April,” added the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Another anonymous source at the Ministry of Unification said the ministry was looking into the possibility that Kim Yong-nam was replaced, but added, “If you consider that they kept other deputies around his age, like WPK propaganda department chief Kim Ki-nam, 85, and WPK politburo presidium member Choe Yong-lim, 84, it doesn’t seem likely he was ruled out as a deputy.”

Kim Yong-nam served as WPK secretary, deputy prime minister, and foreign minister before going on to become a member of the WPK politburo presidium and chair of the SPA presidium.

A senior intelligence official also suggested Kim Kyong-hee may have been excluded.

“There’s a chance she was pushed out or stepped down herself over conflicts with Kim Jong-un,” the official said. “There was a ‘Kim Kyong-hee’ elected from the No. 285 district in North Pyongan Province, but it could just be someone with the same name.”

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