North Korean leader’s top aide dies in car crash

London, Dec 30: A top aide to the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has died in a car crash, BBC reported on Wednesday.

Kim Yang-gon, 73, was part of a high-level delegation from North Korea that helped ease a stand-off with the South in August, after an exchange of artillery fire. He was a secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party and in charge of ties with South Korea, the report said citing North Korean state news agency KCNA.

The agency called him Kim Jong-un’s “closest comrade and a solid revolutionary partner”.

“Comrade Kim Yang-gon, a Workers’ Party secretary and member of the party Central Committee Politbureau… died in a traffic accident at 6.15 a.m., Tuesday, at age 73,” it said, without giving details.  (IANS)