(Photo: Yonhap)
Former South Korean Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo died Thursday after a lengthy battle with blood cancer.
He was 71.
Close aides said Lee fell gravely ill Wednesday night.
He was first diagnosed with blood cancer in 2012 and was able to make a recovery after receiving a stem cell transplant.
But in 2016 the cancer returned.
Lee entered politics in 1995, when he became a Chungcheong provincial police commissioner.
Nearly a decade later he was elected governor of South Chungcheong Province.
Lee also served three terms as a lawmaker before becoming prime minister in 2015, under the Park Geun-hye administration.
After three months in office he was forced to resign over bribery allegations.
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