Juche Ideologist Kim Ki Nam Dies in North Korea
A prominent figure in Pyongyang, he served three generations of the Kim family
Kim Ki Nam, former secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), has passed away at the age of 94. This senior character has been a key figure in North Korea, serving all three North Korean leaders since the 1960s.
A propaganda chief since the days of Kim Il Sung, he has been instrumental in building the political legitimacy of the Kim dynasty and the cult of personality surrounding Pyongyang’s leaders. He is credited with formulating Kim Il Sung’s political course and creating the Juche doctrine, based on nationalism and myth-making, which is the ideological foundation of North Korea.
Kim Jong-un attended the funeral along with members of the Politburo Presidium and secretaries of the WPK Central Committee. Kim Ki Nam was awarded the Order of Kim Il Sung and the Order of Kim Jong Il and was a Hero of Labor.
“The mourning hall was full of grief at the loss of the veteran of our party and revolution, an authoritative theoretician and an important political figure who made great contributions to the firm defense and glorification of the revolutionary ideology and Juche cause,” North Korea’s KCNA news agency wrote.
