image source, Getty Images
- author, Kelly Ng
- role, BBC News
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North Korea’s former propaganda chief Kim Gi Nam has died at the age of 94, state media reported.
According to KCNA, he died of old age and “multiple organ failure” for which he had been receiving treatment since 2022.
He has led the totalitarian state’s propaganda efforts for decades, including building a cult of personality around the ruling Kim dynasty.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended a funeral early Wednesday morning and expressed his condolences to a “veteran revolutionary who remained unboundedly loyal” to the regime, the report added.
South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency likened him to Nazi Germany’s propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, widely known for his belief that “if you repeat a lie enough times, it becomes the truth.”
Despite sharing the most common surname in North and South Korea, Kim Ki-nam had no blood ties to the dominant patriarchy.
He was appointed deputy director of Pyongyang’s propaganda and agitation department in 1966, where he worked closely with current leader Kim Jong Un’s predecessor and father, Kim Jong Il.
Kim Ki-nam later assumed leadership of the ministry, serving what is now the world’s longest-running family dynasty and playing a key role in shaping the country’s message.
He reportedly had a close relationship with Kim Jong-il, with multiple media outlets describing him as a “drinking buddy.”
In the 1970s, he was in charge of the state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun.
He went on to establish the role of President Kim Il-sung (widely regarded as North Korea’s founding father) in North Korea’s history, according to North Korea Leadership Watch, a site about Pyongyang’s political culture. He led efforts to support the succession of Kim Jong Il’s leadership. .
The propaganda department, overseen by Kim Ki-nam, continued to control communication and information flow outside the state.
Korean and Western entertainment, including music and movies, are prohibited.
image source, Getty Images
Kim Ki-nam was one of the few North Korean officials to visit South Korea, and in 2009 he led a delegation to the funeral of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.
One example of how the propaganda machine came into play was after the sudden death of Kim Jong Il in 2011. This accelerated the rise of his son, Kim Jong Un, as the country’s leader. Young Kim is believed to have been in his 20s at the time.
“No force on earth can stop the revolutionary advance of our party, army and people under the wise leadership of Kim Jong-un,” the Korean Central News Agency said in its first post after Kim Jong-un’s death. one of the reports said.
“Under the leadership of Kim Jong-un, we should turn our grief into strength and courage to overcome our current difficulties,” the report said.
In 2015, images published in state media showed a tall, bespectacled Kim Ki-nam, then in his 80s, standing among a group of military personnel, handing out notes while Kim Jong-un gave a speech. I could see him taking it.
He retired in the late 2010s and passed the role to Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, but continues to appear at public events, a sign that he maintains good relations with the regime. It is a sign that there is.
Rachel Lee, a senior researcher at the 38 North Program, a US-based think tank, said: “Kim Jong-un has placed Kim Ki-nam in key propaganda positions for many years, but this means that Kim, like his father, is a wealthy man.” “It shows that I trusted him and relied on him.”
Lee added that Wednesday’s Rodong Sinmun devoted an entire front page to the details of Kim Ki-nam’s death and funeral, which “speaks to the respect accorded him.”
Leif Eric Easley, a professor at Seoul’s Ewha University, said Kim Gi-nam’s death marks the “end of an era” for North Korean propaganda.
“This is someone who tried to glorify the North Korean regime in order to appeal to the entire Korean peninsula and beyond,” he said.
Since then, the state’s propaganda machine has moved away from the previous generation’s interpretation of pan-Korean nationalism, Professor Easley said.
“Currently, Kim Jong Un demonizes Koreans and relies heavily on nuclear weapons for political legitimacy.”
