From Propaganda Pioneer to Iron Fist: The Legacy of North Korea’s Kim Ki Nam

On Wednesday, the North Korean regime announced the death of former propaganda chief Kim Ki Nam, who played a key role in creating and maintaining the cult of personality around the Kim dynasty. According to reports from the KCNA news agency, Kim Jong Un paid his respects to the deceased “revolutionary veteran” by bowing before his coffin.

Kim Ki Nam, who had been hospitalized since 2022, passed away at the age of 94 due to his advanced age and multiple organ dysfunction. He was known for leading Pyongyang’s crucial propaganda department for decades and forging the still prevalent cult of the Kim dynasty. North Korean state media described him as a prestigious theorist and prominent political activist.

In recent years, Kim Ki Nam’s functions as Pyongyang’s chief propagandist were taken over by Kim Yo Jong, the current leader’s influential sister. Despite this change, the Kim dynasty has continued to rule this impoverished and isolated nation with an iron fist for three generations.

According to Ahn Chan-il, a defector turned researcher in charge of the World Institute for North Korean Studies, Kim Ki Nam was “the North Korean equivalent of Paul Joseph Goebbels,” Nazi Germany’s propaganda chief. “The propaganda and agitation strategies of the Kim dynasty are all born from the mind of Kim Ki Nam,” this expert told AFP.