Kim Yong-ju

Kim Yong Ju (1920 – 14 December 2021) was a North Korean politician and the younger brother of Kim Il Sung, who ruled North Korea from 1948 to 1994.

His elder brothers Kim Il Sung (born Kim Song Ju) and Kim Chol-ju were born respectively in 1912 and 1916.

When Kim was three years old, his family moved to southern Manchuria.

Kim Yong Ju was born as the younger child of Kim Hyong Jik and Kang Pan Suk in Taedong County in 1920.

After graduating from the economics department at Moscow State University in 1945, where he also took a deep interest in philosophy, Kim Yong Ju joined the Workers' Party of Korea.

His rise through the party's echelons was rapid; from the 1950s to the 1960s he was chief cadre (1954), vice-director (1957) and finally director (1960) of the WPK Organization and Guidance Department.

Under his brother's rule, Kim Yong Ju held key posts including Politburo member in the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) during the 1960s and early 1970s, but he fell out of favour in 1974 following a power struggle with Kim Jong Il.

He was appointed member of the WPK Central Committee at the Party's 4th Congress in 1961.

In 1966, he was promoted to Organizing Secretary of the WPK Central Committee.

In 1967, he proposed to his brother the "Ten Principles for the Establishment of the One-Ideology System" (whose first principle was: "We must give our all in the struggle to unify the entire society with the revolutionary ideology of the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung"), which were published only in 1974.

By 1970, when he was elected WPK Politburo member, Kim Yong Ju was widely believed to be Kim Il Sung's successor.

In 1972, he represented North Korea in secret negotiations with Park Chung Hee's government in South Korea.

The discussions led to the signing of the July 4th North–South Korea Joint Statement by Kim and his South Korean counterpart Lee Hu-rak establishing agreed preconditions for potential Korean reunification.

He was also elected to the top Central People's Committee and the SPA Presidium in 1972.

However, at the same time Kim Il Sung started grooming his own son Kim Jong Il to be his designated successor, and a power struggle erupted.

It was the period when the WPK was focusing ideologically on Kim Il Sung's Juche; while Kim Jong Il actively stood for this process, Kim Yong Ju, having studied in the Soviet Union, supported a more classical view of Marxism and was not fond of the extensive personality cult built around his brother.

This played to Kim Jong Il's advantage: Kim Yong Ju was increasingly marginalized, his key allies Kim To-man (director of propaganda) and Pak Yong-guk (director of international liaisons) were removed, and he himself was finally attacked by Kim Il Sung.

After a Central Committee plenum in February 1974, Kim Jong Il was granted the position of heir apparent and Kim Yong Ju was demoted to vice-premier.

Kim Yong Ju completely disappeared from the limelight until 1993, when he was called back to Pyongyang by Kim Il Sung to serve as one of North Korea's vice presidents, a ceremonial position with no real power.

From 1998 until his death in 2021, he held the ceremonial position of Honorary Vice President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), North Korea's parliament.

Kim Yong Ju was appointed Honorary Vice-President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly in 1998.

In 2012, he was awarded the Order of Kim Jong Il.

He was also a recipient of the Order of Kim Il Sung and the title Hero of the Republic.

His death in Pyongyang at age 101 was announced by state media on 15 December 2021.