Vice Premier Jong Su Thae of Korea, North

The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency on Oct 16 said Thae was appointed as vice premier according to a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, which was promulgated on the same day.

Thae is known to have served as a chief secretary of the North Pyongan provincial chapter of the ruling Workers' Party in the 1970s, before becoming a manager for a precision machinery factory in Hichon, Jagang Province, in 1976.