North Korea's point man on South dead - KCNA

SEOUL, Aug 20 (Reuters) North Korea's point man on the South and one of the key players in the communist state's warming ties with Seoul died today, the North's official KCNA news agency said.

Rim Tong-ok was for many years the figure believed by some to be a mastermind behind Pyongyang's spy operations against the South during the Cold War years.

But his place in ties with the South was sealed with his appearance on the side of leader Kim Jong-il at a historic summit in Pyongyang with then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung six years ago that led to rapid political reconciliation.

''Comrade Rim Tong-ok was a faithful revolutionary fighter who upheld the guidance of the Party and the Great President and gave everything for the unification of the fatherland and the victory of the great revolution,'' KCNA said.

North and South Korea remain technically at war today because a truce that ended the 1950-53 Korean War was never replaced with a peace treaty.

Rim was again on hand when the North Korean leader received a high-level South Korean delegation last year that broke a bitter year-long stalemate in ties over refugee issues.

Rim died of an ''incurable disease'' at the age of 70, KCNA said. Rim was the communist Workers' Party's top policy maker on the South and vice chairman of the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland.'' REUTERS BDP BD2240