One South Korean analyst said there was no evidence of foul play in the death but it could not be ruled out.
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South Korean ‘comfort women’ protest against accord with Japan
Historians estimate that more than 200,000 women, mostly from Korea, were forced to work in front-line brothels for Japanese soldiers during World War II .
While announcing the members of a state funeral committee, the North indirectly confirmed the reinstatement of two other officials.
Gains in Iraqi city vindicate US-led strategy, at high cost
In previous battles since then, Iraq’s armed forces operated mainly in a supporting role beside Iranian-backed Shiah militias. Anbar, including Ramadi, was a major focus of that campaign at the height of the 2003-2011 United States war in Iraq.
KCNA said leader Kim Jong-Un would head an 80-member state funeral for Kim on Thursday.
Macy’s recalling Martha Stewart frying pans
If you’ve recently gifted or been gifted a new set of cookware, you may want to check to make sure it’s not being recalled. The two frying pans should be returned to their place of purchase if they have a date code listed in the CPSC’s notice.
South Korean analysts believe that seasoned policy aides like Kim Yang Gon served as a calming voice for the young 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 militarised country.
His death was a “great loss” for the party and the people, it said, praising him for his “admirable loyalty and competence”.
Seoul’s Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo sent his condolences to the North by fax. South Korea has previously offered similar condolences when senior North Korean officials died.
Since Kang Sok-ju, a secretary handling worldwide relations for the North’s ruling party, remains ill, Kim was known as effectively doubling up with Kang’s jobs at the party.
North Korea has poor road conditions. South Korean officials refused to comment.
At the talks in August the two sides vowed to try to promote civilian exchanges. Earlier this month, the rival Koreas ended rare high-level talks without any agreement.
None of those speculations has been independently confirmed as it’s nearly impossible to verify what is exactly happening among the ruling elite in the secretive, authoritarian North. But similar speculations again appeared in the South Korean media following Kim Yang Gon’s death, though without any substantial evidences. KCNA has not said who will replace him.
“His predecessor in the same position died in a vehicle accident”, said Han Park, a professor of global relations at the University of Georgia, referencing the 2003 death of Kim Yong Soon.
A source inside North Korea told South Korean newspaper CBS No Cut News that: “Secretary Choe is receiving ideological re-education north east of Pyongyang, in a mining region in the county of Songchon in South Pyongan Province”. Ri reportedly bickered with Jang Song Thaek, a powerful uncle of Kim Jong Un, who was eventually executed by his nephew for alleged treason in 2013.
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Chinese authorities have notified the South Korean Embassy that the recent media report was made “without prior permission from a local Chinese government”, the official said on the condition of anonymity, citing sensitivity of the issue.
