Kim Yong-ju (; 21 September 1920 – 13 December 2021) was a North Korean politician and the younger brother of

Kim Il Sung Kim Il Sung (born Kim Song Ju; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he led as its first Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader from North Korea#Founding, its establishm ...

, who ruled

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

from 1948 to 1994. Under his brother's rule, Kim Yong-ju held key posts including Politburo member in the

Workers' Party of Korea The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), also called the Korean Workers' Party (KWP), is the sole ruling party of North Korea. Founded in 1949 from a merger between the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of South Korea, the WPK is ...

(WPK) during the 1960s and early 1970s, but he fell out of favour in 1974 following a power struggle with

Kim Jong Il Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader of North Korea from Death and state funeral of Kim Il Sung, the de ...

. 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 The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA; ) is the legislature of North Korea. It is ostensibly the highest organ of state power and the only branch of government in North Korea, with all state organs subservient to it under the principle of unified ...

(SPA), North Korea's parliament.

Biography

Kim Yong-ju was born as the younger child of

Kim Hyong-jik Kim Hyong-jik (; 10 July 1894 – 5 June 1926) was a Korean independence activist during Japanese rule. He was the father of the North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, the paternal grandfather of Kim Jong Il, and a great-grandfather of the c ...

and Kang Pan Sok in Taedong County. His elder brothers

(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 Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

. After graduating from the economics department at

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

in 1945, where he also took a deep interest in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

,Hwang Jang Yop's Memoirs (2006) Kim Yong-ju joined the

. 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. 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.''Ten Principles for the Establishment of the One-Ideology System'', Columbia Law School website In 1972, he represented North Korea in secret negotiations with

Park Chung Hee Park Chung Hee (; ; November14, 1917October26, 1979) was a South Korean politician and army officer who served as the third president of South Korea from 1962 after he seized power in the May 16 coup of 1961 until Assassination of Park Chung ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

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 Korean reunification is the hypothetical unification of North Korea and South Korea into a singular Korean sovereign state. The process towards reunification of the peninsula while still maintaining two opposing regimes was started by the Ju ...

. By 1970, when he was elected WPK Politburo member, Kim Yong-ju was widely believed to be Kim Il Sung's successor."The Losers in N.Korea's Ruling Family", ''Chosun Ilbo'', 17 February 2011. He was also elected to the top

Central People's Committee Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

and the SPA Presidium in 1972. However, at the same time Kim Il Sung started grooming his own son

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 ''Juche'', officially the ''Juche'' idea, is a component of Ideology of the Workers' Party of Korea#Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism, Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism, the state ideology of North Korea and the official ideology of the Workers' Party o ...

''; 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 Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

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 An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

and Kim Yong-ju was demoted to Vice Premier. Kim Yong-ju disappeared from the limelight until 1993, when he was recalled to

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

by Kim Il Sung to serve as one of North Korea's vice presidents, a ceremonial position with no real power. Kim Yong-ju was appointed Honorary Vice-President of the Presidium of the

Supreme People's Assembly The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA; ) is the legislature of North Korea. It is ostensibly the highest organ of state power and the only branch of government in North Korea, with all state organs subservient to it under the principle of unified ...

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

at age 101 was announced by state media on 15 December 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Yong-Ju 1920 births 2021 deaths Date of birth missing Vice presidents of North Korea Vice premiers of North Korea North Korean expatriates in the Soviet Union Korean Marxists North Korean communists Moscow State University alumni Kim family (North Korea) North Korean men centenarians Members of the 5th Political Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea Members of the 6th Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea Members of the 4th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea Members of the 5th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea Members of the 6th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea People from Pyongyang Recipients of the Order of Kim Il Sung Recipients of the Order of Kim Jong Il Heroes of the Republic (North Korea) People from South Pyongan Province

Biography

See also

References