Lee Yoon-gu, a former president of the Korean Red Cross who directed humanitarian assistance to North Korea, died on Saturday. He was 84.

The Lee family foundation in Seoul said he died of a sudden illness at The Queen’s Medical Center in Hawaii at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday.

Lee was inaugurated as president of the Korean Red Cross in January 2004 and carried out relief projects for North Korea while in office.

In June 2004, he visited Ryongchon in North Korea to personally assess the damage at the site devastated by a large explosion.

He served as a joint leader of the Korean Sharing Movement, a South Korean civic group which provides aid to North Korea, from 1997 to 2005. In 2007, he took office as president of a movement to help North Korean tuberculosis patients.

The Seoul native graduated from a seminary in 1957 and earned a doctoral degree in philosophy at the University of Manchester in England.

He was a representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund to Egypt, India and Bangladesh from 1973 to 1981, and also served as president of the Headquarters of Zero Tuberculosis World and president of Inje University.

He is survived by his wife and two children. His funeral ceremony will be held in Hawaii.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)