NK parliament's longest

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pays a visit to the funeral bier of Choe Thae-bok, a former chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), Jan. 21. Yonhap

Choe Thae-bok, a former chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), North Korea's rubber-stamp legislature, has died, the North's official news agency reported Sunday. Choe was 93.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un paid a visit to Choe's funeral bier with secretaries of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party at dawn Sunday to express his deep condolences over his death, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

"Kim Jong-un paid silent tribute to Choe Thae Bok who performed distinguished feats in the sacred struggle for the development of the WPK and the DPRK government with his boundless loyalty to the leader, transparent revolutionary principle and spirit of devoted service to the country and its people," the KCNA said.

The DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

The KCNA lauded Choe as "a revolutionary fighter faithful to President Kim Il-sung and Chairman Kim Jong-il and a veteran political activist of the Party and state who made distinguished contributions to the accomplishment of the revolutionary cause of Juche."

Kim Il-sung is the North's late national founder and grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un, while Kim Jong-il is the late son of the national founder and the father of the current leader. Juche, or "self-reliance," refers to the North's ruling ideology.

Choe is believed to be the longest-serving chairman in the North's parliament, holding the position from 1998 to 2019. He was loyal to the regime throughout the three generations of its leaders and served in key positions in the fields of education and foreign affairs.

His last public appearance was at an event to celebrate the North's founding day on Sept. 9, 2022. (Yonhap)