US-sanctioned official named new North Korea head of state

North Korea has replaced its long-serving nominal head of state with a close aide to leader Kim Jong Un who was placed on a US sanctions list last year for alleged human rights abuses, state media said Friday.

Kim Yong Nam, who held the position for almost 20 years, was replaced by Choe Ryong Hae, who will take over the role of representing Pyongyang at international engagements, KCNA said.

The reshuffle, formalised during a session of Pyongyang's rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), comes at a time of heightened diplomatic activity that has seen Kim Jong Un hold landmark summits with the leaders of the US, China and North Korea.

As SPA president, Choe is technically head of state, although real power in North Korea is wielded by Kim and his immediate family.

Analysts say his appointment by Kim suggests a generational shift in the North's leadership, especially after the collapse of the Hanoi summit in February.

Born in 1950, Choe is considered Kim Jong Un's right-hand man -- frequently referred to as the regime's "virtual number two official".

In the 1980s, he led the North's youth delegations on goodwill visits to a number of countries, including Russia, Libya and China, before being promoted to the party's powerful Central Military Commission in 2017.

Some reports have even suggested that one of Choe's sons is married to Kim Jong Un's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong.

He is also one of the three North Korean officials sanctioned by the US last year over human rights abuse allegations.

Choe directs the North's "departments that perpetrate the regime's brutal state-sponsored censorship activities, human rights violations and abuses," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement in December.

Analysts said, however, the existing sanctions against Choe will have little impact on his future diplomatic endeavours, as long as its nuclear dialogue with the US continues.

"Kim Yong Chol, the North's top nuclear negotiator, also has been sanctioned by Washington since 2010," Ahn Chan-il, the president of the World Institute for North Korea Studies in Seoul, told AFP.

"But he visited Washington without a problem earlier this year. Washington will always make exceptions -- as long as Pyongyang has something to offer."