The Propaganda Puppet Master: Kim Ki Nam’s Legacy in North Korea
On Wednesday, North Korea’s official media reported the passing of Kim Ki Nam, the former head of regime propaganda. He was known for leading Pyongyang’s crucial propaganda department for decades and forging the cult of personality around the Kim dynasty. The current leader of the hermetic regime, Kim Jong Un, paid his respects to the “revolutionary veteran” by bowing before his coffin.
Kim Ki Nam was hospitalized since 2022 and passed away at the age of 94 due to his advanced age and “multiple organ dysfunction.” North Korean state media described him as a “veteran of our Party and the revolution,” a “prestigious theorist,” and a “prominent political activist.” In recent years, Kim Yo Jong, the current leader’s influential sister, took over his functions as Pyongyang’s chief propagandist.
The Kim dynasty has ruled this impoverished and isolated nation with an iron fist for three generations. Ahn Chan-il, a defector turned researcher in charge of the World Institute for North Korean Studies, compared Kim Ki Nam to Paul Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany’s propaganda chief. He said that all propaganda and agitation strategies of the Kim dynasty were born from Kim Ki Nam’s mind.
