North Korean propaganda chief who served all three leaders dies

Seoul:

Kim Ki Nam, one of the longest-serving North Korean officials who served all three generations of its leaders, consolidating its political legitimacy and leading the dynastic state’s propaganda apparatus, has died, official media reported on Wednesday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Kim’s bier at 2 a.m. Wednesday to pay tribute “with bitter grief for the loss of a veteran revolutionary who remained infinitely loyal” to the country until the end, he said.

Kim died on Tuesday at the age of 94, the official KCNA news agency reported.

He was part of a core group of loyal officials who worked to sustain three generations of Kim, solidifying his legitimacy and carrying on the bloodline of a revolutionary leader who founded the state in 1945.

“He dedicated himself to supporting the victorious journey of building a powerful socialist country, maintaining the powerful offensive and new development in the new era in all spheres of the Party’s ideological work,” KCNA said.

Kim is one of the few North Korean officials to visit the South, leading a funeral delegation in 2009 following the death of President Kim Dae-jung, who opened an era of reconciliation with Pyongyang with his “Sunshine Policy”.

He moved to the forefront of the North’s propaganda machine, becoming its deputy head in 1966 and then its chief in 1985, during the rule of state founder Kim Il Sung, according to South Korean government data. He retired in 2017.

Kim wielded tremendous influence politically and personally and was a key architect of the political foundation of the ruling Workers’ Party, according to North Korea expert Michael Madden of the Stimson Center.

He was particularly close to Kim Jong-il, the father of the current leader who died in 2011, and was considered his “drinking buddy,” Madden said citing sources.

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