Top North Korean military official Jo Myong Rok dies at 82

Top North Korean military official Jo Myong Rok, a longtime confidant of leader Kim Jong Il who traveled to Washington in 2000 on a then-unprecedented goodwill mission, died Nov. 6 of heart disease, the official Korean Central News Agency reported from Pyongyang. He was 82.

Jo Myong Rok was vice marshal of the Korean People's Army and held the No. 2 post on the powerful National Defense Commission behind Kim.

"His death is a great loss to the party, the army and people of (North Korea) waging a dynamic struggle to win the victory of the cause of building a thriving socialist nation," the dispatch said.

Vice Marshal Jo, a Korean War veteran, paid a rare visit to Washington in October 2000 as Kim's special envoy, meeting during that trip with then-President Bill Clinton. He also later pledged to Madeleine Albright, who was secretary of state under Clinton, that North Korea would take steps to fundamentally improve relations in the interests of peace and security.

Vice Marshal Jo was the highest-level North Korean official to visit Washington, and his trip - followed by Albright's landmark visit to Pyongyang - was part of North Korea's efforts to keep up the momentum generated by a breakthrough summit between Kim and late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung held earlier that year.

However, the reconciliatory mood between the wartime foes shifted dramatically after former President George W. Bush took office, taking a tougher line against North Korea. Relations have also been strained over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, and Pyongyang and Washington still do not have formal diplomatic ties.

North and South Korea remain in a state of war because their conflict in the early 1950s ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The U.S. stations 28,500 troops in South Korea.

Jo Myong Rok was born into a peasant's family in Yonsa County in North Hamgyong Province, the Korean Central News Agency reported. He served as a pilot during the war, which North Korea refers to as the "Fatherland Liberation War," and later rose to the position of chief of staff and commander of the air force of the Korean People's Army, state media said.

As well as the No. 2 job on the defense commission, Vice Marshal Jo also served as a deputy to the Supreme People's Assembly and a member of the politburo of the ruling Workers' Party, state media said.

Reports about his public activities had been infrequent in recent years, sparking speculation in South Korea media about his health and a possible change in Pyongyang's power structure.

His death comes amid a succession movement in North Korea, which has been ruled by the Kim family since late President Kim Il Sung founded the nation in 1948. Son Kim Jong Il took over after his father's death in 1994. Grandson Kim Jong Eun was promoted to key posts within the ruling Workers' Party in September and since last month has accompanied his father to key functions.

Kim Jong Eun's name was placed second behind his father's in a list of members of the vice marshal's funeral committee, a sign that he has become the government's No. 2 official, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. His name was the sixth listed in a caption for a group photo of top North Korean officials in late September, it said.

Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report from Melbourne, Australia.

- Associated Press