On Saturday, South Korea's official Yonhap News Agency reported that Kil Jae Gyong, vice director of Kim's secretariat, had defected to the United States to avoid punishment for a failed drug trafficking attempt.
Yonhap quoted an unidentified "diplomatic source" in Seoul as saying Kil, who engaged in raising secret funds for Kim, "is safely staying in the United States or a place controlled by the United States."
In response to the news reports, the North's state-run Korean Central Agency said Kil had died three years ago.
"Vice Director Kil died of a disease on June 7, 2000, and was buried in the Patriotic Martyrs' Cemetery in Pyongyang," said KCNA.
KCNA also denied Yonhap reports on another defection of Yom Jin Chol, a son of Yom Ki Su, a high-level official of the North's ruling Workers' Party, saying "he is accomplishing his mission normally."
South Korean officials said they could not confirm Kil's death.
North Korea's media usually issue an obituary on the death of a high-ranking official, but there was no such obituary for Kil, officials said.
But South Korea's Joong Ang Ilbo newspaper said Monday it confirmed that Kil was dead, showing a picture of his grave in a Pyongyang cemetery.
Shortly after the newspaper reports, Yonhap offered an apology for its report.
"We sincerely apologize to those cited in the report and domestic and foreign news organizations that carried the report for having caused enormous impact and sensation at home and abroad," it said in a statement.
The defection story rattled South Korea because Kil has been known as Kim Jong Il's close aide who had supervised secret operations abroad such as drug trafficking to raise private funds for Kim.
Foreign and local news media were quick to cite the Yonhap reports because it came at a time when Washington was seeking to step up its crackdown on the North's drug trafficking and missile exports.
Copyright 2003 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.