SEOUL: Kim Yong-ju, a younger brother of North Korea's late founder Kim Il-sung and once a powerful official of the regime, has died, according to Pyongyang's state media on Wednesday.
The North's leader Kim Jong-un sent a wreath the previous day to express condolences over his death, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
His death at the age of 101 came as the leader marks the 10th anniversary this month of taking power in a hereditary succession, Yonhap news agency reported.
Kim Yong-ju was a former honorary vice chairman of the standing committee of the North's rubber stamp Supreme People's Assembly, and a winner of the Order of Kim ll-sung and the Order of Kim Jong-il, the report said, without giving further details, such as when he died.
Born in 1920, he was the head of the ruling party's influential organisation and guidance department in the Kim Il-sung era but was replaced by his nephew Kim Jong-il in 1973. He had since been effectively erased from the North's political scene for around two decades. (IANS)
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