Kim Yong-nam was a North Korean politician who served as the president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea, from 1998 until 2019. Due to holding the office, he was considered the head of state of North Korea; the country's constitution was amended once he left office in 2019 to transfer this position to the president of the State Affairs Commission, Kim Jong Un. Previously, he had served as minister of foreign affairs from 1983 to 1998. He was elected a member of the Presidium of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in 2010.