He served as Vice Chairman (previously Secretary) of the Workers' Party of Korea,[5] and Director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department from 1989 until 2017,[6] responsible for coordinating the country's press, media, fine arts, and publishing to support government policy.
He was also a vice-chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland,[7] in which capacity he led numerous visits to the South, and served several terms in the Supreme People's Assembly, to which he was first elected in November 1977.
[citation needed] He was one of the very few North Korean officials to have visited South Korea, leading a funeral delegation in 2009 after the death of president Kim Dae-jung.
[11] He was also one of the only two civilian officials who accompanied Kim Jong-il's coffin during his funeral in December 2011,[citation needed] the other being Choe Thae-bok.
[citation needed] He was replaced in October 2017 by Pak Kwang-ho in all his functions at a Central Committee plenum due to his retirement.