Kim Yong-ju was born as the younger child of
Kim Hyong-jik and
Kang Pan Sok in
Taedong County. 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 near the
Chinese border to participate in
anti-Japanese resistance activities. 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. 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. 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. By 1970, when he was elected
WPK Politburo member, Kim Yong-ju was widely believed to be Kim Il Sung's successor. 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. 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. == See also ==