Kim Yong-nam

Kim Yong-nam
김영남
Kim Yong-nam in 2015
President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 September 1998
Premier	Hong Song-nam Pak Pong-ju Kim Yong-il Choe Yong-rim Pak Pong-ju
Leader	Kim Jong-il Kim Jong-un
Preceded by	Yang Hyong-sop
Personal details
Born	(1928-02-04) 4 February 1928 (age 88) Heijo, Korea (now Pyongyang, North Korea)
Political party	Workers' Party of Korea

Kim Yong-nam (Hangul: 김영남; Hanja: 金永南; born 4 February 1928) is the President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea, a position he has held since 1998. Previously, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1983 to 1998. He was elected a member of the Presidium of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in 2010.

He was born in the Central District, Heijo (now called Pyongyang), on February 4, 1928. After graduating from a university, he worked as a teacher at the Central Party School, vice-department director of the WPK Central Committee, vice-minister of foreign affairs, and first vice-department director, department director and secretary of the WPK Central Committee, vice-premier of the administration council and concurrently Minister of Foreign Affairs. His elevation to Minister of Foreign Affairs is believed to have occurred as part of a reorganization of the diplomatic bureaucracy after the Rangoon bombing.

As chairman of the Presidium, Kim Yong-nam has been called the "nominal head of state" of North Korea. The deceased founding leader, Kim Il-sung, is designated in the North Korean constitution as the country's "Eternal President". However, Kim Yong-nam accepts the credentials of ambassadors, signs treaties, receives visiting heads of state and represents North Korea on all state visits — the functions normally performed by a head of state in other countries. He has held this office since 5 September 1998.