Kim Yong-Nam began his political career in the fifties and held several prominent roles in the closed one-party state, including as chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly and as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
He managed to maintain his positions of power within the state apparatus through three generations of the incumbent Kim Dynasty, which has continuously maintained power in the country since the Korean War and has often carried out purges in the political elite.
According to former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong-Ho, Kim Yong-Nam never said anything that the regime could consider problematic.
"He never said what he thought, he had neither close allies nor enemies. He showed no creativity or put forward any line of his own. He just repeated what the Kim family said," Thae told the BBC .
Kim Yong-Nam turned 97 years old.
