Kim Ki Nam was often called “North Korea’s Goebbels” because of his role in the propaganda apparatus of three generations of Dictator Kim in North Korea, writes the New York Times.
Now he is dead, aged 94, writes North Korean state media.
DEAD: Kim Ki Nam was 94 years old. Photo: AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon
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Pictures published on Wednesday show the country’s leader Kim Jong-un as he mourns the loss of his propaganda chief in the country’s capital, Pyongyang.
Kim Ki-nam was not related to North Korea’s dictatorial family, where father Kim Jong-il and grandfather Kim Il-sung have ruled the country with an iron fist since after World War II before the current dictator Kim Jong-un (40) took over in 2011.
The propaganda chief is said to have been ill for a year and to have had major organ failure which led to his death.
MINISTER OF PROPAGANDA: MINISTER OF PROPAGANDA: Joseph Goebbels was Adolf Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda. Photo: Rex / NTB
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The North Korean regime is known for building a cult of personality around the dictators, and all of the media is totally state-controlled. All North Koreans are required to carry pictures of the North Korean leaders and pictures of them are on the walls of every home and building in the country.
Kim Ki-nam is referred to as the architect behind part of this and has given him the nickname “North Korea’s Goebbles”.
Joseph Goebbels was Adolf Hitler’s trusted and notorious propaganda minister during World War II
