Kim Chang-son

Kim Chang-son (, 1944 – 26 December 2025) was a North Korean politician. As chief secretary of the Secretariat of the State Affairs Commission, he was the de facto chief of staff to leader Kim Jong Un.

Early life and career Kim Chang-son was born in 1944 in Myongchon County, North Hamgyong Province. He studied Russian and Soviet Studies at Kim Il Sung University and was fluent in Russian. His career in the Workers' Party of Korea began in 1969 when he joined the Ministry of People's Armed Forces (MPAF) External Affairs Bureau. In 1970, he was appointed deputy military attache at the embassy of North Korea in Moscow. In 1974, he returned to the DPRK and was appointed to a senior position in the MPAF External Affairs Bureau, and in 1980 he was appointed deputy director of the bureau. In 1982, he became deputy director-general.

In 2018, he was still the director of North Korea's state affairs commission secretariat and, as part of that, he met with Joe Hagin, a deputy White House chief of staff, met at the Capella Hotel in Singapore in late May to work out security and logistics measures for a meeting between Kim and Trump.

Kim was elected to the 14th Supreme People's Assembly in 2019.

Personal life and death His wife Ryu Chun-ok was a section chief in the Workers' Party of Korea International Affairs Department and a friend of Kim Kyong-hui. She died from alcohol-related illness in 1989; he remarried in 1990.