North Korean Foreign Minister Paek dies

SEOUL, Jan 3: North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun, the reclusive country's top diplomat for much of the past decade of confrontation over its nuclear ambitions, has died, Pyongyang's official media reported today.

Paek, 77, who had been foreign minister since September 1998, had been ailing for some time. His last major appearance on the public stage, at an Asian foreign ministers' meeting in Kuala Lumpur in July, saw him being wheeled around on a golf cart.

''Leader Kim Jong-il Wednesday sent a wreath to the bier of the late Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun, deputy to the DPRK (North Korea) Supreme People's Assembly, expressing deep condolences over his death,'' the KCNA news agency said. It gave no further details.

Due to his ailing health, Paek had largely been relegated to a behind-the-scenes role in recent years, turning over nuclear diplomacy to his deputies, Kang Sok-su and Kim Kye-gwan, a South Korean government official said.

North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in October.

REUTERS