North Korea's official news agency reported Wednesday that the country's top diplomat has died.

Pyongyang's Central News Agency said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il sent a wreath in honor of the late Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun.

But the news agency did not elaborate on how or when the diplomat died.

Born in Ryanggang Province in 1929, Paek graduated from Kim Il-sung University and held a number of key posts for the communist country. He served as the North’s foreign minister from 1998.

He is also well known in South Korea, as he attended a number of inter-Korean dialogues in the 1990s under the name Paek Nam-jun.

Paek had reportedly received treatment for an unspecified illness while visiting Kuala Lumpur last July for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum.