Longest-serving USFK public affairs official dies at 78

Kim Young-gyu, the longest-serving public affairs official for the United States Forces Korea (USFK )has died at age 78. Yonhap

Kim Young-gyu, the longest-serving public affairs official for the United States Forces Korea (USFK), died Friday at age 78.

Kim, who handled public affairs for the U.S. military here from 1979 to 2023, had been described as "the living history" of the bilateral alliance, having visited the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom more than 1,000 times.

His ties to the U.S. military trace back to 1976 when he entered military service under the Korean Augmentation to the United States Army program, serving as a reporter of the Indianhead Magazine affiliated with the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division.

That year, Kim was dispatched to Panmunjeom for the first time to cover the killings of two American soldiers, who were axed to death by North Koreans inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas over a poplar tree.

Three years after the incident, Kim was discharged from his mandatory military service and began working as public affairs officer at the 2nd Infantry Division in Dongducheon, just south of the DMZ. He moved to the USFK's public affairs office in 1985.

In an interview with Yonhap News Agency shortly before retiring in October 2023, Kim recounted rare opportunities to talk to North Korean journalists and understand the reality of a divided peninsula from a broader perspective.

"Being able to observe inter-Korean relations through the eyes of North Korean journalists at Panmunjeom was one of the rewarding aspects of working as a USFK public relations officer," Kim said.

Kim is survived by his wife, his two children and his son-in-law. The family is holding funeral services at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital through Sunday.