Talk:Ri Kun-mo

Date of Death

There's been a bit of confusion about Ri Kun Mo's death, as it frequently happens with North Korea topics. Alexander Mansourov adfirms he's dead in the book I cited, which was written in 2005. However I thought it could be a 2014 republishing because it was not clear. I said I thought, because someone brought this source adfirming he was alive in 2011. That would have left 2012 and 2013 as possible years of death, considering Mansourov's essay from 2014. But the source does not adfirm he was alive in 2011, it just adfirms he was once (1998-2001) secretary of North Hamgyong.

So if the book is from 2005 as it should be (Mansourov is a great expert, no doubt about what he writes) that means Ri Kun Mo's died between 2001 and 2005. This Article from September 2001 adfirms his status was unknown after he was removed, which probably means he did die in 2001 or shortly after, but 2001 is a fair guess. Plus he was in bad health already in 1988, which makes it unlikely he survived more than 20 years.

Searching on KCNA official archives I found his name (as Secretary of North Hamgyiong) in some article from early 2000, which means he had not been purged or executed. His sudden absece from political scene is really likely to mean he fell il in mid 2001 and died before September 2001. That's reasonable, surely more than the 2012-2013 dates. --79.24.121.165 (talk) 17:14, 3 September 2018 (UTC)

Reaffirmation he's dead

When Kim Yong-nam died, one article mentions he was the oldest living state leader from North Korea, and due to the fact Kun-mo is 2 years older, it is likely he is dead for certain. Maroonandcrimson (talk) 01:35, 10 December 2025 (UTC)