North Korea ? Paek Nam Sun, North Korea’s foreign minister and the country’s top diplomat for nearly 10 years, has died at the age of 78, official media reported Wednesday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il expressed his condolences, the North’s Korean Central News Agency reported.

The one-sentence dispatch did not provide any more details, including when or how he died. But China’s official Xinhua news agency said Paek died Tuesday.

Paek has been the North’s top diplomat since 1998. News reports have said he was suffering from kidney disease. It was unclear who would succeed him.

Paek’s death is not believed likely to lead to any change in North Korea’s foreign policy. The North’s Foreign Ministry usually implements policies that have been crafted by the ruling Korean Workers’ Party. Power is heavily concentrated in Kim’s hands, and state officers stray from the official line at their peril.