A high ranking North Korean official has been reported to have recently passed away in a car accident. CNN reported the news, which was first reported through North Korea's KCNA news agency.

Kim Yang Gon, 73, was one of the top aides to Kim Jong Un, and he was part of the negotiation table between South and North Korea this past August. His title was the�head of the United Front Department and took care of North Korean matters regarding South Korea.

No other details on the car accident have been released, besides that it was related to a traffic accident. But�Greg Scarlatoiu, the�executive director at the Cmte. for Human Rights in North Korea says that it might not have been a car accident after all.

Scarlatoiu explains how the late Kim Jong Il used car accidents as cover-ups for North Korean officials' deaths, who might have been executed or their car might have been collided with on purpose.

Seeing how there are no further details on the car accident, and how Pyeongyang does not have that much traffic, Scarlatoiu wonders if Kim Jong Un is following the same type of purge his father was known for.

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North Korean news outlet KCNA described Kim as a "loyal warrior" and one of the "closest comrades and trustworthiest revolutionary comrades" of Kim Jong Un.