Senior DPRK official dies of cancer at 76

Kang Sok Ju, a senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), has died of cancer at the age of 76, the official KCNA news agency reported Saturday.

Kang, who died Friday after he suffered esophageal cancer and an acute respiratory failure, was a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), from September 2010 to early May 2016.

He used to work as deputy foreign minister, first deputy foreign minister and vice premier.

In April 2014, he was given the post of secretary and director of the International Department under the WPK Central Committee.

Kang had also been a deputy to the Supreme People's Assembly, the country's top legislative body, since 1987.

(APD)