Kim family's chief propagandist passes away at age 94

Kim family's chief propagandist passes away at age 94

Kim Ki Nam, the former chief of propaganda for North Korea, passed away, official media said on Wednesday. He was ninety-four years old.

According to the official KCNA, he was treated for "multiple organ dysfunction" since 2022 and passed away as a result of his age.

He had spent decades spearheading propaganda campaigns throughout the authoritarian regime, which included creating a Kim dynasty-centered personality cult.

According to KCNA, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un paid respects to the "veteran revolutionary who had remained boundlessly loyal" to the state during his early Wednesday morning burial.

Comparing him to Joseph Goebbels, the head of Nazi Germany's propaganda, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said that Goebbels' famous maxim "repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth" applied to him as well.

Kim Ki Nam had one of the most prevalent family names in both North and South Korea, although she was not related by blood to the ruling patriarchal.

In 1966, he was named deputy head of Pyongyang's Department of Agitation and Propaganda. There, he worked closely with Kim Jong Il, the father of current leader Kim Jong Un's predecessor. Later on, Kim Ki Nam became the department head.

According to many media accounts, Kim Ki Nam and Kim Jong Il had a strong friendship; they were even referred to as "drinking buddies".

He was appointed editor of the state newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, in the 1970s.

Afterwards, according to North Korea Leadership Watch, a website on Pyongyang's political culture, he spearheaded efforts to solidify Kim Il Sung's place in the nation's history and to back Kim Jong Il's accession to the throne.

One of the rare North Korean leaders to visit the South is Kim Ki Nam, who in 2009 led a team to attend the burial of the former president of South Korea, Kim Dae-jung.

He also wrote the majority of the state's political slogans for many years, and he had a lot of power over publishing, media, and even the fine arts.

One instance of the propaganda apparatus coming into operation was after Kim Jong Il's unexpected passing in 2011. This accelerated his son Kim Jong Un's rise to prominence as the nation's leader. At the time, the youthful Kim was thought to be in his early 20s.

One of the first KCNA announcements after Kim Jong Il's death said, "No force on earth can check the revolutionary advance of our party, army, as well as individuals under the wise leadership of Kim Jong Un."

"Under the leadership of Kim Jong Un we should turn our sadness into strength and courage as well as overcome the present difficulties," added the report.

Images from 2015 that appeared on state media showed the eighty-something tall, bespectacled Kim Ki Nam standing with a gathering of military leaders and taking notes during Kim Jong Un's speech.

He handed up his position to Kim Yo Jong, the sister of Kim Jong Un, when he retired in the late 2010s, but he kept showing up at public occasions, indicating that he was still well-liked by the government.

As a sign that Kim Jong Un, like his father, trusted and depended on Kim Ki Nam, Kim Jong Un placed him in important propaganda roles for years, according to Rachel Lee, a Senior Fellow at the US-based think tank 38 North Program.

The Rodong Sinmun devoted the whole front page on Wednesday to the passing of Kim Ki Nam and the specifics of his burial, Ms. Lee said, saying that this "speaks to the respect accorded to him".

Kim Ki Nam's death, according to professor Leif-Eric Easley of Ewha University in Seoul, signifies "the end of an era" for North Korean propaganda.

"This is someone who attempted to glorify the Pyongyang regime in a way to appeal to those outside the Korean Peninsula," he said.

According to Prof. Easley, the official propaganda apparatus has moved on from the narrative of pan-Korean nationalism from the previous generation.

"Now, Kim Jong Un demonises South Koreans as well as heavily relies on nuclear weapons to assert legitimacy," he said.