Kim Kuk-thae

Kim Kuk-thae (; 27 August 1924 – 13 December 2013) was an elder apparatchik of the Workers' Party of Korea, the ruling party in North Korea.

Life Kim was born in North Hamgyong Province as the eldest son of Kim Il Sung's trusted general Kim Chaek. He attended North Korea's most prestigious schools for cadres, including Mangyongdae Revolutionary School and Kim Il Sung University, and started working in the Workers' Party of Korea from the late 1940s. In 1963, he was appointed general to serve as deputy director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army to 1968, where he worked to consolidate Kim Il Sung's political control over the army. In 1968 he was made an alternate member of the WPK Central Committee (promoted to full member at the 5th Party Congress in 1970) and director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department, where he worked closely with Kim Jong Il. As the propaganda department fell under the future leader's control, Kim was transferred to director of the Culture Department in 1971 and president of the Kim Il Sung Higher Party School in 1976, but then he apparently fell out of favor and was exiled as ambassador to Ethiopia. He also served as chairman of the Deputies' Credential Screening Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly for two terms (1998–2003, and 2009–2013), himself being a deputy since 1967. In 2010 he was transferred to chairman of the WPK Central Control Commission and promoted to the top decision-making Politburo. Although he was ranked number 7 in the committee that organized the funeral of Kim Jong Il in December 2011, he kept a low profile under Kim Jong Un, mainly disappearing from public after summer 2012.

Death He died on 13 December 2013 from heart failure after a five-decade career, and was laid in state in the Central Workers' Hall (home of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea) in Pyongyang before being buried in the Patriotic Martyrs' Cemetery.

On his funeral committee were:

Kim Yong-nam Pak Pong-ju Choe Ryong-hae Ri Yong-gil Jang Jong-nam Kim Kyong-hui Kim Ki-nam Choe Thae-bok Pak To-chun Kim Yong-chun Yang Hyong-sop Kang Sok-ju Ri Yong-mu O Kuk-ryol Kim Won-hong Kim Yang-gon Kim Yong-il Kim Phyong-hae Kwak Pom-gi Mun Kyong-dok Choe Pu-il Kim Chang-sop Ro Tu-chol Jo Yon-jun Thae Jong-su Choe Yong-rim Hyon Chol-hae Ri Pyong-sam Ju Kyu-chang Ri Yong-su Paek Kye-ryong Han Kwang-bok O Il-jong Kim Jong-im Kim Chung-hyop Han Kwang-sang Kim Kyong-ok Ri Chae-il Choe Hwi Kim Man-song Chon Il-chun Jong Myong-hak Kim Hi-thak Paek Ryong-chon Hong In-bom Ri Man-gon O Su-yong Pak Yong-ho Pak Thae-dok Kim Chun-sop Pak Chong-nam Ri Sang-won Kang Yang-mo Rim Kyong-man