Former SK PM Kang Young-hoon dies at age 94：Yonhap

Former Prime Minister Kang Young-hoon, who met with his North Korean counterpart in 1990 in the first talks between the prime ministers of the two Koreas in nearly a half century, died Tuesday. He was 94.

Kim, who had been hospitalized at Seoul National University Hospital, died at around 3:07 p.m., Red Cross officials said.

Kang served as South Korea’s No. 2 official from 1988 to 1990 for then President Roh Tae-woo.

Kang met with his North Korean counterpart in September in 1990, the first such meeting following the division of the Korean Peninsula. Kang also traveled to Pyongyang a month later and met with North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung, the late grandfather of the current leader Kim Jong-un.

photo taken on Oct. 18, 1990, shows South Korean Prime Minister Kang Young-hoon (L) shaking hands with North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang. (Yonhap)

Kang later headed South Korea’s Red Cross, which provided humanitarian aid to North Korea, from 1991 to 1997.

Kang is survived by his wife, son and two daughters.

(YONHAP)