Kim Ki Nam, former Secretary of Propaganda and Agitation of the North Korean Workers’ Party, has passed away. Kim Ki Nam was at the forefront of idolization and propaganda campaigns spanning three generations, from Kim Il Sung, and Kim Jong Il, to Kim Jong Un.
According to a report quoted by Yonhap News, the Korean Central News Agency announced on the 8th, “Comrade Kim Ki Nam, who had been receiving treatment for chronic illness and multiple organ failure since April 2022, unfortunately, passed away at 10 a.m. on May 7, 2024, at the age of 94.”
It was further reported that the body of the deceased would be laid in state at the Sojang Hall in the Botong River District of Pyongyang and that it would be open for visitation from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the 8th, with the funeral scheduled for 9 a.m. on the 9th. Kim Jong Un, who is serving as the chairman of the state funeral committee, visited the funeral parlor at 2 a.m. on the 8th. The agency reported that Kim “paid tribute and meditated in memory of Comrade Kim Ki Nam, who contributed to the strengthening and development of our party, the ideological unification of the great revolution, and the victorious advancement of the socialist cause.”
Starting his career in the 1960s as the deputy director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers’ Party, Kim Ki Nam led the idolization of the Kim family and the legitimacy of the three-generation succession. He held various positions including the director of Propaganda and Agitation and Secretary of Propaganda. However, it was known that he stepped down from his positions as the party’s vice-chairman and director of Propaganda and Agitation after being excluded from the presidium list at the 2nd Plenary Session of the 7th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea held in October 2017.
Kim Ki Nam visited South Korea as the head of the North Korean special envoy delegation to express condolences upon the death of former President Kim Dae Jung on August 18, 2009.
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