The World - News from Dec. 13, 1988

Yon Hyong Muk, a member of the Korean Workers’ Party Politburo, has been appointed premier of North Korea, replacing Li Gun Mo, the official Korean Central News Agency reported in a dispatch monitored in Tokyo. It said Yon was selected by the party’s Central Committee and ratified by the Supreme People’s Assembly, North Korea’s Parliament. The agency said Li resigned and also stepped down from the Politburo because “he found it difficult to carry on economic organization and external activities for health reasons.”