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 The Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea, also known as the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland (DFRF) or the Fatherland Front, is a North Korean popular front formed on 22 July 1946 and led by the Workers' Par ...

and vice chair of the

Supreme People's Assembly The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA; ) is the unicameral legislature of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. It consists of one deputy from each of the DPRK's 687 constituencies, elected to five-year ...

Early life and education

Ryo Won-gu was born in 1928 in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

. She was the third daughter of the politician Lyuh Woon-hyung, a

Korean reunification Korean reunification () is the potential reunification of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea into a single Korean sovereign state. The process towards reunification was started by the June 15th North–South Jo ...

activist and politician who was assassinated in 1947. Before her father's assassination, in July 1946, Ryo Won-gu and her older sister had defected to

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and ...

and moved to

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...

. Then, from 1946 to 1954, Ryo lived in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, where she was a student at

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

Career

For a period beginning in 1989, Ryo taught at

Kim Chaek University of Technology Kim Chaek University of Technology is a university in North Korea, on the banks of the Taedong River in Pyongyang. It is named after General Kim Chaek. The university's programs in nuclear reactors, nuclear electronics, nuclear fuel and nuclear ...

. Then, beginning in 1991, she served as vice chairman of North Korea's Education Committee, an equivalent to the deputy secretary of education or vice education minister in some other countries. From 1998 to 2009, Ryo served as a vice chairperson of the 10th and 11th Supreme People's Assemblies. Also beginning in 1998, she became co-chairwoman of the

. She also served as a delegate to the

Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA; ) is the unicameral legislature of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. It consists of one deputy from each of the DPRK's 687 constituencies, elected to five-year ...

. In her work, she often followed in her sister Ryo Yong-gu's footsteps, succeeding her in her roles in both the Supreme People Assembly and the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea after Ryo Yong-gu's death in 1996. Ryo Won-gu was heavily involved in diplomatic efforts between North and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, especially after her sister's death, and was considered an expert on the subject of South Korean relations. In 2000, she helped host South Korean President

Kim Dae-jung Kim Dae-jung (; ; 6 January 192418 August 2009), was a South Korea, South Korean politician and activist who served as the eighth president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. He was a 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient for his work for democra ...

during that year's

inter-Korean summit Inter-Korean summits are meetings between the leaders of North and South Korea. To date, there have been five such meetings so far (2000, 2007, April 2018, May 2018, and September 2018), three of them being in Pyongyang, with another two in ...

. Then, in 2002, she drew notice by visiting Seoul on

Liberation Day Liberation Day is a day, often a public holiday, that marks the liberation of a place, similar to an independence day. Liberation marks the date of either a revolution, as in Cuba, the fall of a dictatorship, as in Portugal, or the end of an oc ...

, paying a visit to her father's grave in the city during her trip. In 2005, Ryo was awarded the National Reunification Prize by the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly. In 2007, she was named a recipient of the

Order of Kim Il-sung The Order of Kim Il-sung () is the highest order of North Korea, along with the Order of Kim Jong-il, and only second to one honorary title, the Hero of Labour. The order, named after the country's first leader Kim Il-sung, was instituted in ...

, North Korea's highest order. She died in 2009 at the age of 81.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryo, Won-gu Date of birth missing Date of death missing Place of death missing 1928 births 2009 deaths Politicians from Seoul 20th-century North Korean women politicians 20th-century North Korean politicians Moscow State University alumni Members of the Supreme People's Assembly Women government ministers of North Korea