Jo, who had been near the centre of power in the reclusive communist state for three decades, died of "inveterate heart disease" at 10:30 am (0130 GMT) Saturday, the official KCNA news agency said.

He was first vice-chairman of the militaristic state's all-powerful National Defence Commission and had led an official delegation to the United States in 2000.

Jo was born into a poor peasant's family in North Hamgyong Province, which borders China, KCNA said.

It described him as "a revolutionary comrade loyal to leader Kim Jong-Il and a prominent activist of the (Workers' Party), the state and the army of the DPRK (North Korea) who devoted his whole life to the sacred struggle for the freedom and independence of the country and the victory of the cause of socialism."

Jo was elected to North Korea's supreme body, the presidium of the politburo, in September when the Workers' Party held its highest-level gathering for 30 years to elect a new leadership.

The meeting also appointed leader Kim's youngest son Kim Jong-Un as one of two vice-chairmen of the country's powerful central military commission and a member of its core institution, the central committee.

Kim Jong-Il, who took over from his own father and national founder Kim Il-Sung, suffered a stroke in 2008 and is also thought to have kidney problems.

The Kim dynasty has ruled with an iron fist since the country was founded in 1948.

The regime is struggling to revive the crumbling economy amid persistent severe food shortages, and is grappling with international sanctions imposed to curb its nuclear and missile programmes.

Jo was a veteran of the 1950-53 Korean War and had held the rank of Vice Marshal of the Korean People's Army (KPA), since 1995, KCNA said.

"In the period of the hard-fought Fatherland Liberation War against the US imperialists' armed invasion he bravely fought as a pilot of the KPA for the victory in the war," the agency reported.

His public profile was at its highest when he visited the White House in October 2000 and met with then president Bill Clinton.

He was honored at a State Department dinner hosted by Madeleine Albright, then secretary of state, and saw William Cohen, secretary of defence, at a time of reconciliation between the United States and North Korea.

The former air defence commander was seen closely accompanying Kim Jong-Il during the historic first inter-Korea summit in Pyongyang in 2000.

But Jo's public appearance in recent years have been infrequent, triggering media reports about his possible health problems.

He was conspicuously absent in a group photo of senior party and military officials after the North's major party conference in September elected him to the powerful presidium of the politburo.

The absence of the powerful figure in the photo, which also featured Kim Jong-Il and his heir apparent, Jong-Un, further fanned speculation about Jo's health.

An obituary issued Saturday by Pyongyang described Jo's death as "a great loss to the party, the army and people of the DPRK waging a dynamic struggle to win the victory of the cause of building a thriving socialist nation and bring earlier the independent reunification of the country."

He is to be given a state funeral on Wednesday, the report said, and will lie in state at the Central Hall of Workers beforehand.

KCNA said Pyongyang would form "a state funeral committee with Kim Jong-Il as its chairman and Kim Jong-Un and 169 others as its members".

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