The younger brother of North Korean nation founder Kim Il-sung, Kim Yong-ju, has died at the age of 101, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported Wednesday.
It said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, his great-nephew, sent a wreath.
Born in 1920, Kim Yong-ju was at one time considered the second most powerful person in North Korea while he was director at the Organization and Guidance Department of the Workers Party. He signed inter-Korean joint statement in 1972 along with South Korean intelligence chief Lee Hu-rak.
But he was ousted in 1973 after Kim Il-sung designated his son Kim Jong-il as his successor and was sent into internal exile in remote Chagang Province.
He was allowed to return to Pyongyang in 1993, after Kim Jong-il secured his grip on power, and was given the ceremonial title of vice president.
The last time he was spotted in public was at a polling station as he cast his vote in a regional election in July 2015, bowing to photos of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il as he left the venue.
