es, one man has been largely responsible for creating North Korea’s propaganda machine: Kim Ki Nam. He served all three North Korean dictators and is the architect of many of the myths that have helped to keep the Kim family in power. Last week, Kim Ki Nam died at the age of 94. WSJ’s Timothy Martin reports on his controversial legacy.

Further Reading:

-The Original Mastermind Behind North Korea’s Cult-of-Personality Propaganda Dies

-Kim Jong Un’s New Look Is More Man Than Superhuman

Further Listening:

-How North Korea’s Hacker Army Stole $3 Billion in Crypto

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1d:T515,In the U.S. we’re taught that North Korea is a horrible backwards dictatorship where every person is captive to an evil regime run by a mad man who has an inexplicable hatred of the U.S., freedom and democracy – and is always on the edge of launching a nuclear missile to destroy the world. This, we’re told, is the reason we have to isolate the country and occupy South Korea with thousands of U.S. soldiers. The purpose of such a simplistic narrative is to prevent Americans from getting curious about what’s really happening there. Why is North Korea so closed off? What's the relevant history of that region? Why did the U.S. go to war there in the 1950s? What were the consequences? Why is Korea split into two? And is the country really as evil as the mainstream portrays? To help break it all down, Rania Khalek was joined by Ju-Hyun Pa

North Korea’s Propaganda Mastermind