Prominent North Korean official Kim Yang Gon died in a car accident Tuesday, the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency reported early Wednesday. Kim was a highly significant official within the Pyongyang regime, having served as the North’s point man on inter-Korean relations for the past eight years and having been an apparent close confidant of current North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. His sudden death of raises the question of how his absence will affect inter-Korean relations and, potentially, regime politics.

Kim Yang Gon had a long career working in international and inter-Korean affairs for Pyongyang. He reached