Yang Hyong-sop (Korean: 양형섭; 1 October 1925 – 13 May 2022) was a North Korean politician who served as Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly and Chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly from 1983[2] to 1998 (from 1994 it was formally the highest position in the state[citation needed]).

Yang was born on 1 October 1925, in Hamhung, Kankyōnan-dō, Korea, Empire of Japan.

[3] According to the official biography released by the Korean Central News Agency, he joined the Korean People's Army in June 1950 (approximately when the Korean War started); after graduating from Kim Il Sung University, he served as section chief and then secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, Director of the Central Party School, Minister of Higher Education, and President of the Academy of Social Sciences [ko].

He was elected Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly in 1983, after having been a vice-chairman since 1962; in this capacity, he assumed the functions of de facto head of state after Kim Il Sung's death in 1994, as the post of President of the Republic was never reassigned; however, actual power was held by Kim Jong Il.

On 6 January 2007, at a mass rally in Pyongyang, he gave a speech praising the North Korean government for building nuclear weapons.