Ex-South Korean spy chief dies

Former South Korean spy chief Lee Hu-rak, who brokered the signing of an historic 1972 peace document with North Korea following a secret trip to Pyongyang, died today.

He was 85.

Kyung Hee East-West Neo Medical Center in Seoul said that Lee had been hospitalised since May and died of old age and a brain tumour today.

Lee, a retired army major general, was a close associate of former President Park Chung-hee who ruled South Korea with an iron-fist for 18 years following a 1961 coup.

While serving as Park’s top intelligence officer, Lee visited Pyongyang in 1972 and helped broker a joint agreement to work toward peacefully reunifying their divided peninsula.