Ryo Won-gu

Ryo Won-gu (; November 1928 – July 2009) was a North Korean politician. She is best known for her work on inter-Korean diplomacy during her time as chair of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea and vice chair of the Supreme People's Assembly.

Early life and education Ryo Won-gu was born in 1928 in Keijō, Korea, Empire of Japan. She was the third daughter of the politician Lyuh Woon-hyung, a Korean reunification activist and politician who was assassinated in 1947.

Then, from 1946 to 1954, Ryo lived in Moscow, where she was a student at Moscow State University.

Career For a period beginning in 1989, Ryo taught at Pyongyang's Kim Chaek University of Technology. Also beginning in 1998, she became co-chairwoman of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea. In 2000, she helped host South Korean President Kim Dae-jung during that year's inter-Korean summit. In 2007, she was named a recipient of the Order of Kim Il Sung, North Korea's highest order. She died in 2009 at the age of 81.