Kim Ki Ryong (deceased)
updated February 25, 2018
Kim Ki Ryong is a deceased DPRK media official. He was Editor in Chief of Rodong Sinmun (the Korean Workers’ Party daily) and a member of the Party Central Committee (CC KWP). Kim worked in the DPRK press for his entire career, having been a reporter, essayist, publications’ guidance manager and a two-time President of the Korean Central News Agency.
Kim Ki Ryong was born in 1940 in Ryanggang Province. He attended Kim Il Sung University and began his career as a reporter at Rodong Sinmun. In the late 1970s and early 1980s Kim worked as a political essayist and editorial writer at Rodong and promoted to editor in 1985.
Kim was appointed director of the General Publications’ Guidance Bureau in 1988, which regulates censorship in the DPRK media. In 1989 he was appointed to his first term as KCNA President and in October of the same year, was appointed Chairman of the Publication Information Committee. He was elected a deputy to the 9th Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) in 1990.
Kim Ki Ryong was elected an alternate member of the CC KWP at its 19th plenum (6th Term/6th CC) in December 1991, and elected to full membership at its 20th plenum in December 1992. In 1996 Kim was dismissed as KCNA President and Public Information Committee Chairman. He was not elected a deputy to the 10th SPA held in 1998.
In July 2000 Kim was reappointed President of KCNA. He was elected to the 11th SPA in 2003 and the 12th SPA in 2009. As KCNA President, he traveled out of the country regularly as a delegation leader. In February 2010 Kim Ki Ryong was replaced as KCNA President by his primary deputy Kim Pyong Ho. He returned as Rodong Sinmun’s Editor in Chief.
At the 3rd Party Conference on 28 September 2010, Kim was reappointed Rodong’s editor and reelected to full membership on the CC KWP. In November 2010 Kim Ki Ryong led a Rodong delegation on a trip to the PRC where they conducted exchanges with Chinese media counterparts and met with CCP Political Bureau Standing Committee member, Li Changchun.
Kim Ki Ryong retired in 2013 and passed away in 2017.
Kim Ki Ryong
Editor in Chief, Rodong Sinmun
Member, Party Central Committee (CC KWP)
Career
1965: Staff reporter, Rodong
1970s: Columnist, Rodong
1980: Editorial Writer, Rodong
1985: Editor, Rodong
1988: Director, General Publications Guidance Bureau
1989: President, Korean Central News Agency
Chairman of the Public Information Committee
1990: Deputy, 9th Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA)
1991: Elected, Alternate Member, CC KWP
1992: Elected, Member, CC KWP
1996: Suspended as President, KCNA
2000: Reappointed, President, KCNA
2003: Deputy, 11th SPA
2009: Deputy, 12th SPA
2010: Editor, Rodong
See also:
“Senior Chinese Official Meets DPRK Press Delegation,” Xinhua News Agency, November 5, 2010
Yonhap News Agency. North Korea Handbook (Armonk, NY: ME Sharpe, 2001) pp. 181; 833
