Kim Jong-pil, the founder of South Korea's spy agency whose political skills helped him also serve twice as prime minister, first under his dictator boss and later under a man his agency kidnapped, has died.
He was 92.
Kim was declared dead on arrival at Seoul's Soonchunhyang University Hospital from his home on Saturday, said hospital official Lee Mi-jong. He described the cause of death as age-related complications. A retired lieutenant colonel, Kim was a key member of a 1961 coup that put army Maj. Gen. Park Chung-hee in power until his 1979 assassination.