THE North Korean diplomat who negotiated a 1994 deal to freeze the country’s nuclear programmes in exchange for aid was mourned at his state funeral yesterday as a serious loss for the country.

Senior military and ruling party officials attended the ceremony for Kang Sok Ju at the Sojang Club in Pyongyang.

Mr Kang was Pyongyang’s chief negotiator when it reached the landmark agreement with Washington in 1994 to freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear facilities in exchange for international aid to build two nuclear power plants.