Yon Hyong-muk, also spelt Yong Hyong-muk (November 3, 1931 – October 22, 2005), was a long-serving politician in

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and ...

and at the height of his career the most powerful person in that country outside the Kim family. He was Prime Minister of North Korea from 1988 to 1992. He was born in

Kyongwon County Kyŏngwŏn County is a ''kun'', or county, in North Hamgyong province, North Korea, located at , formerly known as Saebyŏl. It is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the north and east, Kyonghung to the southeast, Hoeryong to the sout ...

and had a strong revolutionary background in his family. He was educated locally and employed as a farm worker. Yon was educated in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and by the 1950s, he was firmly established within the hierarchy of the

Workers' Party of Korea The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. Founded in 1949 from the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of ...

. In 1967 he was selected as a deputy to the

Supreme People's Assembly The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA; ) is the unicameral legislature of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. It consists of one deputy from each of the DPRK's 687 constituencies, elected to five-year ...

. During the 1970s, Yon further advanced in the Party and by the middle 1980s he was regarded as the fourth most powerful person in North Korea after

Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...

, Kim Jong-il, and veteran marshal and defence minister O Jin-u. He was a candidate member of the

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contractio ...

from the early 1980s and became Prime Minister of North Korea in 1989. During this era, Yon served as

Minister of Heavy Industry Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

and this consolidated his role in the North's large

armaments A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, s ...

sector. In this period, as Kim Il-sung and O Jin-u were both already past eighty, Yon took an important role in relations between North and South Korea. He worked hard in this field as Prime Minister and was regarded as the chief negotiator behind the '' Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-aggression and Exchanges and Cooperation between the South and the North'' (also known as the "South-North Basic Agreement") of 1991. At the time he called it "the most valuable achievement ever made between the South and North Korean authorities." For the rest of the 1990s, Yon was the chief figure behind efforts to reconcile the two Koreas. By the 2000s, Yon was declining in health and his role in North Korean politics had become largely ceremonial by the time he died - presumably of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a mass. These cancerous cells have the ability to invade other parts of the body. A number of types of panc ...

for which he had received treatment in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

in 2004 at the well protected

Central Clinical Hospital The Central Clinical Hospital of the Administrative directorate of the President of the Russian Federation (russian: Центральная клиническая больница c поликлиникой Управления делами Пре ...

. Yon was a recipient of the

Order of Kim Il-sung The Order of Kim Il-sung () is the highest order of North Korea, along with the Order of Kim Jong-il, and only second to one honorary title, the Hero of Labour. The order, named after the country's first leader Kim Il-sung, was instituted in ...

Hero of Labor The Hero of Socialist Labour (russian: links=no, Герой Социалистического Труда, Geroy Sotsialisticheskogo Truda) was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It rep ...

and other awards.

Death and funeral

Yon died on 22 October 2005. A funeral committee chaired by

Jo Myong-rok Jo Myong-lok (12 July 1928 – 6 November 2010) was a North Korean military officer who held the military rank Chasu (Vice Marshal). In 1998, he was appointed First Vice-Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea, Directo ...

was appointed. Its members were: #

Kim Yong-nam Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese ...

Pak Pong-ju Pak Pong-ju (; born 10 April 1939) is a North Korean politician who served as the Premier of North Korea from 2003 to 2007 and again from 2013 to 2019. He was elected a member of the Presidium of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in 2016. Early ...

Kim Yong-chun Kim Yong-chun (4 March 1936 – 16 August 2018) was a North Korean soldier and politician. He was a leader of the North Korean military. He held the North Korean military rank Chasu (Vice Marshal), was Vice Chairman of the National Defense Comm ...

# Kim Il-chol # Jon Pyong-ho #

Ri Yong-mu Ri Yong-mu (25 January 1925 – 27 January 2022) was a North Korean senior official who was a member of the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea, vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea and vice-marshal of the Korean ...

Choe Thae-bok Choe Thae-bok (born 1 December 1930) is a North Korean politician. He is a member of the Politburo and the Secretariat of the Workers' Party of Korea, and was Chairman (speaker) of the Supreme People's Assembly for nearly 21 years, from 1998 to 2 ...

Yang Hyong-sop Yang Hyong-sop (1 October 1925 – 13 May 2022) was a North Korean politician who served as Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly and Chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly from 1983 to 1998 (from 1994 it was for ...

Choe Yong-rim Choe Yong-rim (, born 20 November 1930) is a North Korean politician who served as the Premier of North Korea from June 2010 to April 2013 and was a member of the 6th Presidium of the Workers' Party of Korea.

# Kim Ki-nam # Kim Jung-rin # Hong Song-nam # Kwak Pom-gi # Ro Tu-chol # Jon Sung-hun # Kim Yong-dae #

Ryu Mi-yong Ryu Mi-yong (14 February 1921 – 23 November 2016) was the chairwoman of the North Korean Chondoist Chongu Party. She was a standing committee member of the 10th Supreme People's Assembly. She was known as a defector from South Korea to the No ...

Paek Se-pong Paek Se-bong (, born 1938) is a North Korean politician. Paek is a former member of the National Defence Commission of North Korea. He was named to the position in 2003, in a general reshuffling which saw the removal of older members including R ...

# Pak Yong-sok # Pak Nam-gi # Ri Kwang-ho # # Ri Yong-chol #

Ri Je-kang Ri Je-gang (1930 – 2 June 2010) was a North Korean politician. Career Ri studied at Kim Il-sung University. He was elevated to the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in 1973 as head of the Organization and Guidance Depar ...

# Ri Jae-il # Ju Kyu-chang # Kim Jong-im # Kim Yang-kon # Ju Sang-song #

Ri Myong-su Ri Myong-su ( ko, 리명수; born on 20 February 1934 in Myongchon, North Hamgyong) is the former chief of General Staff of the Korean People's Army from 2016 to 2018. Ri was a confidant and military aide of the former North Korean leader Kim J ...

# Hyon Chol-hae #

Kim Ki-son Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese ...

# Pak Jae-kyong # Kim Yang-chom #

Pak Sung-won Park Sung-won ( ko, 박승원; born November 1946) is a former military officer and politician of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) who was a member of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. He served as delega ...

Choe Pu-il General Choe Pu-il (; born 6 March 1944) is a North Korean politician who served as head of North Korea's Ministry of People's Security. Biography In April 1992, he was promoted to Major General and to General in October 1995. After serving as D ...

# Ri Thae-won # Sim Sang-dae # Ri Thae-nam # Kim Phyong-hae #

Kim Rak-hui Kim Rak-hui (, 11 November 1933 – February 2013) was a North Korean politician. Kim worked in the agricultural and cooperatives section for most of her working life. During the Korean War, her efforts in rationing caught the attention of Ki ...

# Ro Pae-kwon #

Kim Kyong-ho Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese ...

Pak To-chun General Pak To-chun ( ko, 박도춘; 9 March 1944 — 27 July 2022) was a politician of North Korea. According to his official biography, Pak was born in Jagang Province in 1944 and joined the Korean People's Army in 1960 (becoming a general ...

# Ryom Sun-gil # Kang Chang-uk #

Pak Sun-hui Pak or PAK may refer to: Places * Pakistan (country code PAK) * Pak, Afghanistan * Pak Island, in the Admiralty Islands group of Papua New Guinea * Pak Tea House, a café in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan Arts and entertainment * PAK (band), an Ame ...

Works

* * *

References

{{NKPMs 1931 births 2005 deaths People from Kyongwon County Prime Ministers of North Korea North Korean military personnel Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in North Korea Recipients of the Order of Kim Il-sung Alternate members of the 6th Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea Members of the 6th Secretariat of the Workers' Party of Korea Members of the 5th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea Members of the 6th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea