Close confidant of North Korean leader Kim dies

"A generation change by young North Korean elites to the leadership could come earlier than expected."

Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert and professor at Dongguk University in Seoul

One of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's closest confidants died at the weekend, state media reported yesterday, with analysts saying his death could signal changes in the regime's internal power structure.

Yon Hyong-muk died on Saturday at the age of 73 of an "incurable disease," Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Yon, a Czech-educated technocrat, had served as vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission led by Kim since 2003, according to the agency monitored in Seoul.

"Though having no major impact on the North's external policy, it may bring a change to the North's internal power structure," said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert and professor at Dongguk University in Seoul.

"As close aides to Kim Jong-il are dying of disease and age or in accidents, a generation change by young North Korean elites to the leadership could come earlier than expected," he said.

KCNA did not name the disease from which Yon, also a former prime minister, suffered. Seoul's Yonhap news wire service said he had surgery in Russia last year for treatment of pancreatic cancer.

North Korea experts in Seoul said Yon's death highlighted how vulnerable Pyongyang's aging leadership was to illness and old age and reaffirmed the need for generational change.

KCNA, describing Yon's death as "a big loss to [the Korean Workers' Party] and [the Korean] people," said that a state funeral would be held for him.

Yon had been regarded as one of Kim's closest aides, accompanying the reclusive supremo to key public events, including the 2000 inter-Korean peace summit, according to knowledgable North Korea watchers.

Yon had long been involved in the North's defense industry as heavy industry minister, and in the development of Pyongyang's foreign policy as a communist party secretary.