Kim Il-sung

This is a Korean name; the family name is Kim.

Kim Il-sung 김일성 金日成
Kim during a visit to East Germany, 1984.
President of North Korea
In office 23 December 1972 - 13 July 1994 (&000000000000002100000021 years, &0000000000000192000000192 days)
Preceded by	Position created Choi Yong-kun, Head of State as President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly
Succeeded by	Position abolished (Proclaimed Eternal President of the Republic after his death)
General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea
In office 30 June 1947 - 13 July 1994 (&000000000000004500000045 years, &00000000000000080000008 days)
Succeeded by	Kim Jong-il
Premier of North Korea
In office 9 September 1948 - 28 December 1972 (&000000000000002400000024 years, &0000000000000110000000110 days)
Succeeded by	Kim Il (Premier)
Eternal President
Incumbent
Assumed office  8 July 1994 (&000000000000001600000016 years, &000000000000009100000091 days)
Born	15 April 1912(1912-04-15) Mangyŏngdae, Heian-nando, Japanese Korea
Died	8 July 1994 (aged 82) Pyongyang, North Korea
Nationality	North Korean
Political party	Workers’ Party of Korea
Spouse(s)	Kim Jong-suk (d. 1949) Kim Song-ae
Children	Kim Jong-il Kim Man-il Kim Kyong-jin Kim Pyong-il Kim Yong-il
Signature

Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl	김일성
Hancha	金日成
McCune–Reischauer	Kim Il-sŏng
Revised Romanization	Gim Il-seong

North Korea

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of North Korea

Constitution Juche Eternal President Kim Il-sung Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il Supreme People's Assembly Chairman of the Presidium Kim Yong-nam National Defence Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il First Vice Chairman Jo Myong-Rok Government Premier Choe Yong-rim Subdivisions Judiciary Political parties Workers' Party of Korea General Secretary Kim Jong-il Korean Social Democratic Party Chondoist Chongu Party Elections: 2003, 2009 Korean reunification Human rights Foreign relations Songun policy

Other countries · Atlas Politics portal view • talk • edit

Kim Il-sung (Korean: 김일성, Hanja: 金日成;^[1] 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a Korean communist, and later Juche, politician who led North Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death.^[2] He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death. He was also the General Secretary of the Workers Party of Korea.

During his tenure as leader of North Korea, he ruled the nation with autocratic power and established an all-pervasive cult of personality. From the mid-1960s, he promoted his self-developed Juche variant of communist national organisation.^[3] Following his death in 1994, he was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-il. North Korea officially refers to Kim Il-sung as the "Great Leader" (Suryong in Korean 수령) and he is designated in the constitution as the country's "Eternal President". His birthday is a public holiday in North Korea.

Contents 1 Early years 1.1 Communist and guerrilla activities 2 Return to Korea 3 Korean War 4 Leader of North Korea 5 Later years 6 Death 7 Family life 8 Kim's name and image 9 Works 10 Ancestry 11 See also 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External links

[edit] Early years

Much of the early records of his life come from his own personal accounts and official North Korean government publications, which often conflict with independent sources. Nevertheless, there is some consensus on at least the basic story of his early life, corroborated by witnesses from the period.

Kim was born to Kim Hyŏng-jik and Kang Pan-sŏk, who gave him the name Kim Sŏng-ju, and had two younger brothers, Ch’ŏl-chu and Yŏng-ju. The ancestral seat (pon’gwan) of Kim's family is Chŏnju, North Chŏlla Province, and what little that is known about the family contends that sometime around the time of the Korean-Japanese war of 1592–98, a direct ancestor moved north. The claim may be understood in light of the fact that the early Chosŏn government’s policy of populating the north resulted in mass resettlement of southern farmers in Phyŏngan and Hamgyŏng regions in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. At any rate, the majority of the Chŏnju Kim today live in North Korea, and extant Chŏnju Kim genealogies provide spotty records.

The exact history of Kim's family is somewhat obscure. The family was neither very poor nor comfortably well-off, but was always a step away from poverty. Kim was raised in a Presbyterian family; his maternal grandfather was a Protestant minister, his father had gone to a missionary school and was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and both his parents were reportedly very active in the religious community. Kim was an accomplished church organist.^[4][5][6] According to the official version, Kim’s family participated in anti-Japanese activities and in 1920 they fled to Manchuria. The more objective view seems to be that his family settled in Manchuria like many Koreans at the time to escape famine. Nonetheless, Kim’s parents apparently did play a minor role in some activist groups, though whether their cause was missionary, nationalist, or both is unclear.^[7][8]

Kim's father died in 1926, when Kim was fourteen years old. Kim attended Yuwen Middle School in Jilin from 1927 to 1930,^[9] where he rejected the feudal traditions of older generation Koreans and became interested in Communist ideologies; his formal education ended when he was arrested and jailed for his subversive activities. At seventeen, Kim had become the youngest member of an underground Marxist organization with fewer than twenty members, led by Hŏ So, who belonged to the South Manchurian Communist Youth Association. The police discovered the group three weeks after it was formed in 1929, and jailed Kim for several months.^[10][11]

[edit] Communist and guerrilla activities

The Communist Party of Korea had been founded in 1925, but had been thrown out of the Comintern in the early 1930s for being too nationalist. In 1931, Kim had joined the Communist Party of China. He joined various anti-Japanese guerrilla groups in northern China, and in 1935 he became a member of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, a guerrilla group led by the Communist Party of China. Kim was appointed the same year to serve as political commissar for the 3rd detachment of the second division, around 160 soldiers.^[7] It was here that Kim met the man who would become his mentor as a Communist, Wei Zhengmin, Kim’s immediate superior officer, who was serving at the time as chairman of the Political Committee of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army. Wei reported directly to Kang Sheng, a high-ranking party member close to Mao Zedong in Yan'an, until Wei’s death on 8 March 1941.^[12]

Also in 1935 Kim took the name Kim Il-sung, meaning "become the sun."^[13] The name had previously been used by a prominent early leader of the Korean resistance.^[8] Soviet propagandist Grigory Mekler, who claims to have prepared Kim to lead North Korea, says that Kim assumed this name while in the Soviet Union in the early 1940s from a former commander who had died.^[14] On the other hand, some Koreans simply did not believe that someone as young as Kim could have anything to do with the legend.^[15] Historian Andrei Lankov has claimed that the rumor Kim Il-Sung was somehow switched with the “original” Kim is unlikely to be true. Several witnesses knew Kim before and after his time in the Soviet Union, including his superior, Zhou Baozhong, who dismissed the claim of a “second” Kim in his diaries.^[16]

Kim was appointed commander of the 6th division in 1937, at the age of 24, controlling a few hundred men in a group that came to be known as “Kim Il Sung’s division.” It was while he was in command of this division that he executed a raid on Poch’onbo, on June 4. Although Kim’s division only captured a small Japanese-held town just across the Korean border for a few hours, it was nonetheless considered a military success at this time, when the guerrilla units had experienced difficulty in capturing any enemy territory. This accomplishment would grant Kim some measure of fame among Chinese guerrillas, and North Korean biographies would later exploit it as a great victory for Korea. Kim was appointed commander of the 2nd operational region for the 1st Army, but by the end of 1940, he was the only 1st Army leader still alive. Pursued by Japanese troops, Kim and what remained of his army escaped by crossing the Amur River into the Soviet Union.^[17] Kim was sent to a camp near Khabarovsk, where the Korean Communist guerrillas were retrained by the Soviets. Kim became a Captain in the Soviet Red Army and served in it until the end of World War II.

In later years, Kim would heavily embellish his guerrilla feats in order to build up his personality cult. He was portrayed as a boy-conspirator who joined the resistance at 14 and had founded a battle-ready army at 19. North Korean students are taught that this Kim-led army singlehandedly drove the Japanese off the peninsula.^[8]

[edit] Return to Korea

When the Soviet Union declared war on Japan in August 1945, it fully expected a long, drawn-out conflict. However, much to Stalin's surprise, the Red Army churned into Pyongyang with almost no resistance on 15 August. Stalin realized he needed someone to head a puppet regime. He asked Lavrenty Beria to recommend possible candidates. Beria met Kim several times before recommending him to Stalin. It is widely believed that Kim was selected over several more qualified candidates because he had no ties to the native Communist movement.^[8]

Kim arrived in North Korea on 22 August after 26 years in exile. According to Leonid Vassin, an officer with the Soviet MVD, Kim was essentially "created from zero." For one, his Korean was marginal at best; he'd only had eight years of formal education, all of it in Chinese. He needed considerable coaching to read a speech the MVD prepared for him at a Communist Party congress three days after he arrived. They also systematically destroyed most of the true leaders of the resistance who ended up north of the 38th parallel.^[8]

In September 1945, Kim was installed by the Soviets as head of the Provisional People’s Committee. He was not, at this time, the head of the Communist Party, whose headquarters were in Seoul in the U.S.-occupied south. During his early years as leader, he assumed a position of influence largely due to the backing of the Korean population which was supportive of his fight against Japanese occupation.

One of Kim’s accomplishments was his establishment of a professional army, the Korean People's Army (KPA) aligned with the Communists, formed from a cadre of guerrillas and former soldiers who had gained combat experience in battles against the Japanese and later Nationalist Chinese troops. From their ranks, using Soviet advisers and equipment, Kim constructed a large army skilled in infiltration tactics and guerrilla warfare. Before the outbreak of the Korean War, Joseph Stalin equipped the KPA with modern heavy tanks, trucks, artillery, and small arms. Kim also formed an air force, equipped at first with ex-Soviet propeller-driven fighter and attack aircraft. Later, North Korean pilot candidates were sent to the Soviet Union and China to train in MiG-15 jet aircraft at secret bases.^[18]

Although original plans called for all-Korean elections sponsored by the United Nations, in May 1948 the South declared statehood as the Republic of Korea, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was proclaimed on 9 September, with Kim as premier. On 12 October, the Soviet Union declared that Kim's regime was the only lawful government on the peninsula. The Communist Party merged with the New People's Party to form the Workers Party of North Korea (of which Kim was vice-chairman). In 1949, the Workers Party of North Korea merged with its southern counterpart to become the Workers Party of Korea (WPK) with Kim as party chairman.

By 1949, North Korea was a full-fledged Communist dictatorship. All parties and mass organizations were cajoled into the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, ostensibly a popular front but in reality dominated by the Communists. Around this time, Kim built the first of many statues of himself and began calling himself "the Great Leader."

[edit] Korean War

The government of U.S. occupied South Korea (ROK) usurped power from locally controlled "People’s Committees" and reinstalled many of the former land owners and police who had held office when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule. These moves were met with heavy resistance and open rebellion in some parts of South Korea such as the southern islands.^[19] After several altercations at the border, it appeared that civil war might be inevitable. North Korean troops invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950 intending to use force to unify the country under a communist government. The invasion was also fueled by the Jeju massacre in which 60,000 communists were killed on Jeju Island in the South.^[20] Evidence suggests that the North’s bid to reunify the country was met with a wide range of popular support across the south.^[21]

Archival material suggests^[22][23][24] that the decision was Kim's own initiative rather than a Soviet one. Evidence suggests that Soviet intelligence, through its espionage sources in the U.S. government and British SIS, had obtained information on the limitations of U.S. atomic bomb stockpiles as well as defense program cuts, leading Stalin to conclude that the Truman administration would not intervene in Korea.^[25]

The People’s Republic of China acquiesced only reluctantly to the idea of Korean reunification after being told by Kim that Stalin had approved the action,^[22][23][24] and did not provide direct military support (other than logistics channels) until United Nations troops, largely U.S. forces, had nearly reached the Yalu River late in 1950. North Korean forces captured Seoul and occupied most of the South, but were soon driven back by the U.S.-led counter attack. However, North Koreans are taught to this day that it was the South who invaded the North, and the KPA's sweep through the South was merely a counterattack. By October, UN forces had retaken Seoul and on October 19 captured P’yŏngyang, forcing Kim and his government to flee north, first to Sinuiju and eventually into China.

On 25 October 1950, after sending various warnings of their intent to intervene if UN forces did not halt their advance, Chinese troops in the thousands crossed the Yalu River and entered the war as allies of the KPA. The UN troops were forced to withdraw and Chinese troops retook P’yŏngyang in December and Seoul in January 1951. In March U.N. forces began a new offensive, retaking Seoul. After a series of offensives and counter-offensives by both sides, followed by a gruelling period of largely static trench warfare, the front was stabilized along what eventually became the permanent "Armistice Line" of 27 July 1953. During the stalemate warfare, North Korea was devastated by U.S. air raids with very few buildings left standing in the capital and elsewhere in the country. By the time of the armistice, upwards of 3.5 million Koreans on both sides had died in the conflict.

[edit] Leader of North Korea

Restored as the leader of North Korea, Kim returned to the country after war's end and immediately embarked on a large reconstruction effort for the country devastated by the war. He launched a five-year national economic plan to establish a command economy, with all industry owned by the state and all agriculture collectivised. The nation was founded on egalitarian principles intent on eliminating class differences and the economy was based upon the needs of workers and peasants. The economy was focused on heavy industry and arms production. Both South and North Korea retained huge armed forces to defend the 1953 ceasefire line, although no foreign troops were permanently stationed in North Korea.

Kim's hold on power was rather shaky. To strengthen it, he claimed that the United States deliberately spread diseases among the North Korean population. While Moscow and Beijing later determined that these charges were false, they continued to help spread this rumour for many years to come. He also conducted North Korea's first large-scale purges in part to scare the people into accepting this false account. Unlike Stalin's Great Purge, these took place without even the formalities of a trial. Victims often simply disappeared into the growing network of prison camps.^[8]

During the late 1950s, Kim was seen as an orthodox Communist leader, and an enthusiastic satellite of the Soviet Union. His speeches were liberally sprinkled with praises to Stalin. However, he sided with China during the Sino-Soviet split, opposing the reforms brought by Nikita Khrushchev, whom he believed was acting in opposition to Communism. He distanced himself from the Soviet Union, removing mention of his Red Army career from official history, and began reforming the country to his own radical Stalinist tastes. Kim was seen by many in North Korea, and in some parts elsewhere in the world, as an influential anti-revisionist leader in the communist movement. In 1956, anti-Kim elements encouraged by de-Stalinization in the Soviet Union emerged within the Party to criticize Kim and demand reforms.^[26] After a period of vacillation, Kim instituted a purge, executing some who had been found guilty of treason and forcing the rest into exile.^[26]

By the 1960s, Kim's relationship with the great Communist powers in the region became difficult. Despite his opposition to de-Stalinization, Kim never severed his relations with the Soviets, since he found the Chinese as unreliable allies due to the unstable state of affairs under Mao, leaving the DPRK somewhere in between the two sides. The Cultural Revolution, however, prompted Kim to side with the Soviets, the decision reinforced by the neo-Stalinist policies of Leonid Brezhnev. This infuriated Mao and the anti-Soviet Red Guards. As a result, the PRC immediately denounced Kim's leadership, produced anti-Kim propaganda, and subsequently began reconciliation with the United States.^{[citation needed]}

At the same time he reinstated relations with both Erich Honecker's East Germany and Nicolae Ceauşescu's Romania. Ceauşescu, in particular, was heavily influenced by Kim's ideology, and the personality cult that grew around him was very similar to that of Kim. However, Kim and Albania's Enver Hoxha (another independent-minded Stalinist) would remain fierce enemies^[27] and relations would remain cold and tense up until Hoxha's death in 1985. At the same time, Kim was establishing an extensive personality cult, and North Koreans began to address him as "Great Leader" (widaehan suryŏng 위대한 수령). Kim developed the policy and ideology of Juche (self-reliance 주체 사상) rather than having North Korea become a Soviet satellite state.

In the mid-1960s, Kim became impressed with the efforts of Hồ Chí Minh to reunify Vietnam through guerilla warfare and thought something similar might be possible in Korea. Infiltration and subversion efforts were thus greatly stepped up against U.S. forces and the leadership that they supported. These efforts culminated in an attempt to storm the Blue House and assassinate President Park Chung-hee. North Korean troops thus took a much more aggressive stance toward U.S. forces in and around South Korea, engaging U.S. Army troops in fire-fights along the Demilitarized Zone. The 1968 capture of the crew of the spy ship USS Pueblo was a part of this campaign.

A new constitution was proclaimed in December 1972, under which Kim became President of North Korea. By this time, he had decided that his son Kim Jong-il would succeed him, and increasingly delegated the running of the government to him. The Kim family was supported by the army, due to Kim Il-sung’s revolutionary record and the support of the veteran defense minister, O Chin-u. At the Sixth Party Congress in October 1980, Kim publicly designated his son as his successor.

[edit] Later years

From about this time, however, North Korea encountered increasing economic difficulties. The practical effect of Juche was to cut the country off from virtually all foreign trade. The economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping in China from 1979 onward meant that trade with the moribund economy of North Korea held decreasing interest for China. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, during 1989–1991, completed North Korea's virtual isolation. These events led to mounting economic difficulties.

North Korea repeatedly predicted that Korea would be re-united before Kim’s 70th birthday in 1982, and there were fears in the West that Kim would launch a new Korean War. But by this time, the disparity in economic and military power between the North and the South (where the U.S. military presence continues) made such a venture impossible.

As he aged, Kim developed a growth on the back of his neck which was a calcium deposit. Its location near his brain and spinal cord made it inoperable. Because of its unappealing nature, North Korean photographers always shot and filmed him from the same slight-left angle, which became a difficult task as the growth reached the size of a baseball.^[28][29]

In early 1994, Kim began investing in nuclear power to offset energy shortages brought on by economic problems. This was the first of many "nuclear crises". On 19 May 1994, Kim ordered spent fuel to be unloaded from the already disputed nuclear research facility in Yongbyon. Despite repeated chiding from Western nations, Kim continued to conduct nuclear research and carry on with the uranium enrichment programme. In June 1994, former President Jimmy Carter travelled to Pyongyang for talks with Kim. To the astonishment of the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency, Kim agreed to stop his nuclear research program and seemed to be embarking upon a new opening to the West.

[edit] Death

By the early 1990s, North Korea was nearly completely isolated from the outside world, except for limited trade and contacts with China, Russia, Vietnam and Cuba. Its economy was virtually bankrupt, crippled by huge expenditures on armaments, with an agricultural sector unable to feed its population, but state-run North Korean media continued to lionize Kim. On 8 July 1994, at age 82, Kim Il-sung collapsed from a sudden heart attack. After the heart attack, Kim Jong-il ordered the team of doctors who were constantly at his father's side to leave, and for the country's best doctors to be flown in from Pyongyang. After several hours, the doctors from Pyongyang arrived, and despite their best efforts to save him, Kim Il-sung died. After the traditional Confucian Mourning period, his death was declared thirty hours later.^[30] His death caused a nationwide mourning crisis, and a ten-day mourning period was declared by Kim Jong-il. His funeral in Pyongyang was attended by hundreds of thousands of people from all over North Korea, many of whom were mourning dramatically (there were reports that many people committed suicide or were killed in the resulting mass mourning crushes), weeping and crying Kim Il-sung's name during the funeral procession. Kim Il-sung's body was placed in a public mausoleum at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where his preserved and embalmed body lies under a glass coffin for viewing purposes. His head rests on a Korean-style pillow and he is covered by the flag of the Workers Party of Korea. Video of the funeral at Pyongyang was broadcast on several networks, and can now be found on various websites.^[31]

[edit] Family life

Kim Il-sung married twice. His first wife, Kim Jong-suk, bore him two sons and a daughter. Kim Jong-il is his oldest son. The other son (Kim Man-il, or Shura Kim) of this marriage died in 1947 in a swimming accident and his wife Kim Jong-suk died at the age of 31 while giving birth to a stillborn baby girl. Kim married Kim Sŏng-ae in 1952, and it is believed he had three children with her: Kim Yŏng-il, Kim Kyŏng-il and Kim Pyong-il. Kim Pyong-il was prominent in Korean politics until he became ambassador to Hungary.

Kim was reported to have other illegitimate children, as he was well known for having numerous affairs and secret relationships. They included Kim Hyŏn-nam (born 1972, head of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers' Party since 2002)^[32] and Chang-hyŏn (born 1971, adopted by Kim Jong-il's sister Kim Kyŏng-hŭi).^[33]

[edit] Kim's name and image

There are over 500 statues of Kim Il-sung in North Korea.^[34] The most prominent are at Kim Il-sung University, Kim Il-sung Stadium, Kim Il-sung Square, Kim Il-sung Bridge and the Immortal Statue of Kim Il-sung. Some statues have been destroyed by explosions or damaged with graffiti.^[35] Yeong Saeng ("eternal life") monuments have been erected throughout the country, each dedicated to the departed "Eternal Leader", at which citizens are expected to pay annual tribute on his official birthday or the anniversary of his death.^[36]

Kim Il-sung's image is prominent in places associated with public transportation, hanging at every North Korean train station and airport.^[34] It is also placed prominently at the border crossings between China and North Korea. His portrait is featured on the front of all recent North Korean won banknotes. Thousands of gifts to Kim Il-sung from foreign leaders are housed in the International Friendship Exhibition.

[edit] Works

Kim Il-sung was the author of many works and they are published in books. His works are published by the Workers' Party of Korea Publishing House and among them are "Complete Collection of Kim Il Sung's Works" and "Collection of Kim Il Sung's Selected Works". These include new year speeches, and other speeches delivered on different occasions. Shortly before his death, he also published an autobiography entitled "With the Century" in 12 volumes.

According to official North Korean sources, Kim Il-sung was also the original writer of The Flower Girl, a revolutionary theatrical opera, which was made into a film adaptation in 1972.^[37][38][39]

[edit] Ancestry

Kim Hyŏng-jik

Kang Pan-sŏk

Kim Sŏng-ae

Kim Il-sung

Kim Jong-suk

Kim Young-sook

Song Hye-rim

Kim Jong-il

Ko Young-hee

Kim Ok

Kim Sul-Song

Kim Jong-nam

Kim Jong-chul

Kim Jong-un

[edit] See also

• Cold War
• Song of General Kim Il-sung
• Stalinism

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Blair, Clay, The Forgotten War: America in Korea, Naval Institute Press (2003)
• Goncharov, Sergei N., Lewis, John W. and Xue Litai, Uncertain Partners: Stalin, Mao, and the Korean War (1993)
• Kim Il-sung (2003). With the Century. Korean Friendship Association. http://www.korea-dpr.com/library/202.pdf. 
• Lankov, Andrei N., Crisis in North Korea: The Failure of De-Stalinization, 1956. Honolulu:Hawaii University Press (2004)
• Mansourov, Aleksandr Y., Stalin, Mao, Kim, and China's Decision to Enter the Korean War, September 16-October 15, 1950: New Evidence from the Russian Archives, Cold War International History Project Bulletin, Issues 6-7 (Winter 1995/1996)
• Martin, Bradley (2004). Under The Loving Care Of The Fatherly Leader: North Korea And The Kim Dynasty. St. Martins. ISBN. 
• Sudoplatov, Pavel Anatoli, Schecter, Jerrold L., and Schecter, Leona P., Special Tasks: The Memoirs of an Unwanted Witness — A Soviet Spymaster, Little Brown, Boston (1994)
• Suh, Dae-Sook, Kim Il Sung: The North Korean Leader. New York: Columbia University Press (1988)
• Weathersby, Kathryn, The Soviet Role in the Early Phase of the Korean War, The Journal of American-East Asian Relations 2, no. 4 (Winter 1993)
• Christian Kracht, Eva Munz, Lukas Nikol, "The Ministry Of Truth. Kim Jong Ils North Korea", Feral House, October 2007, 132 pages, 88 color photographs, ISBN 978-932595-27-7
• NKIDP: Crisis and Confrontation on the Korean Peninsula: 1968-1969, A Critical Oral History

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kim Il Sung

• Kim's resting place
• North Korea Uncovered, (North Korea Google Earth)
• Korean Unification Studies
• North Korean International Documentation Project (NKIDP)

• A State of Mind, a documentary movie by Daniel Gordon, chronicles everyday life in North Korea in 2003
• Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, a book by Barbara Demick

Political offices
Preceded by None	Premier of the DPRK 1949–1972	Succeeded by Kim Il
Preceded by None	President of the DPRK (Eternal President of the Republic since September 5, 1998) 1972–1994	Succeeded by None Yang Hyong-sop de facto as head of State
Party political offices
Preceded by None	General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea Chairman from 1949–1966 1949–1994	Succeeded by Kim Jong-il Vacant until 1997
Military offices
Preceded by None	Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army 1948–1991	Succeeded by Kim Jong-il

v • d • e Heads of state of North Korea Chairmen of the Presidium of the Parliament: Kim Tu-bong (1948-1957) • Choi Yong-kun (1957-1972) • President (1972-1994): Kim Il-sung • Chairman of the Presidium (since 1998): Kim Yong-nam Kim Il-sung has been Eternal President since his death. The post of President was vacant from his death until the 1998 Constitution entered into force, after which the Chairman of the Presidium became de facto ceremonial head of state, as in 1948-72.

v • d • e Premiers of North Korea Kim Il-sung • Kim Il • Pak Song-chol • Li Jong-ok • Kang Song-san • Li Gun Mo • Yon Hyong-muk • Kang Song-san • Hong Song-nam • Pak Pong-ju • Kim Yong-il • Choe Yong-rim

v • d • e Cold War Participants and Notable Figures   ANZUS · NATO · Non-Aligned Movement · SEATO · Warsaw Pact 1940s Yalta Conference · Operation Unthinkable · Potsdam Conference · Gouzenko Affair · War in Vietnam (1945–1946) · Iran crisis of 1946 · Greek Civil War · Restatement of Policy on Germany · First Indochina War · Truman Doctrine · Asian Relations Conference · Marshall Plan · Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948 · Tito–Stalin split · Berlin Blockade · Western betrayal · Iron Curtain · Eastern Bloc · Chinese Civil War (Second round) 1950s Korean War · 1953 Iranian coup d'état · Uprising of 1953 in East Germany · 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état · Partition of Vietnam · First Taiwan Strait Crisis · Geneva Summit (1955) · Poznań 1956 protests · Hungarian Revolution of 1956 · Suez Crisis · Sputnik crisis · Second Taiwan Strait Crisis · Cuban Revolution · Kitchen Debate · Asian–African Conference · Bricker Amendment · McCarthyism · Operation Gladio · Hallstein Doctrine 1960s Congo Crisis · Sino-Soviet split · 1960 U-2 incident · Bay of Pigs Invasion · Cuban Missile Crisis · Berlin Wall · Vietnam War · 1964 Brazilian coup d'état · 1965 United States occupation of the Dominican Republic · South African Border War · Transition to the New Order · Domino theory · ASEAN Declaration · Laotian Civil War · Greek military junta of 1967–1974 · Six Day War · Cultural Revolution · Sino-Indian War · Prague Spring · Goulash Communism · Sino-Soviet border conflict 1970s Détente · Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty · Black September in Jordan · Cambodian Civil War · Realpolitik · Ping Pong Diplomacy · Four Power Agreement on Berlin · 1972 Nixon visit to China · 1973 Chilean coup d'état · Yom Kippur War · Strategic Arms Limitation Talks · Angolan Civil War · Mozambican Civil War · Ogaden War · Sino-Albanian split · Cambodian–Vietnamese War · Sino-Vietnamese War · Iranian Revolution · Operation Condor · Bangladesh Liberation War  · Korean Air Lines Flight 902 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan · Iran-Iraq war  · 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics boycotts  · Solidarity (Soviet reaction) · Contras · Central American crisis · RYAN · Korean Air Lines Flight 007 · Able Archer 83 · Strategic Defense Initiative · Invasion of Grenada · People Power Revolution · Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 · United States invasion of Panama · Fall of the Berlin Wall · Revolutions of 1989 · Glasnost · Perestroika 1990s Democratic Revolution in Mongolia · Breakup of Yugoslavia · Dissolution of the Soviet Union · Dissolution of Czechoslovakia See also Soviet and Russian espionage in U.S. · Soviet Union – United States relations · NATO–Russia relations Organizations ASEAN · CIA · Comecon · EEC · KGB · MI6 · Stasi Races Arms race · Nuclear arms race · Space Race Ideologies Capitalism(Chicago school · Keynesianism · Monetarism · Neoclassical economics · Supply-side economics · Thatcherism · Reaganomics) · Communism (Marxism-Leninism · Castroism · Guevarism · Juche · Maoism · Stalinism · Titoism · Trotskyism) · Liberal democracy Propaganda Active measures · Izvestia · Pravda · Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty · Red Scare · TASS · Voice of America · Voice of Russia Foreign policy Truman Doctrine · Marshall Plan · Containment · Eisenhower Doctrine · Domino theory · Kennedy Doctrine · Peaceful coexistence · Ostpolitik · Johnson Doctrine · Brezhnev Doctrine · Nixon Doctrine · Ulbricht Doctrine · Carter Doctrine · Reagan Doctrine · Rollback Timeline of events · Portal · Category

v • d • e Notable figures of the Cold War Soviet Union Joseph Stalin · Andrei Gromyko · Nikita Khrushchev · Anatoly Dobrynin · Leonid Brezhnev · Alexei Kosygin · Yuri Andropov · Konstantin Chernenko · Mikhail Gorbachev · Nikolai Ryzhkov · Gennady Yanayev · Boris Yeltsin United States Harry S. Truman · George Marshall · Joseph McCarthy · Dwight D. Eisenhower · John F. Kennedy · Robert F. Kennedy · Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr · Lyndon B. Johnson · Richard Nixon · Henry Kissinger · Gerald Ford · Jimmy Carter · Ronald Reagan · George H. W. Bush People's Republic of China Mao Zedong · Zhou Enlai · Hua Guofeng  · Deng Xiaoping · Zhao Ziyang West Germany Konrad Adenauer · Walter Hallstein · Willy Brandt · Helmut Schmidt · Helmut Kohl United Kingdom Winston Churchill · Clement Attlee · Ernest Bevin · Anthony Eden · Harold Macmillan · Alec Douglas-Home · Harold Wilson · Edward Heath · James Callaghan · Margaret Thatcher Italy Alcide De Gasperi · Palmiro Togliatti · Giulio Andreotti · Aldo Moro · Enrico Berlinguer · Francesco Cossiga · Bettino Craxi France Charles de Gaulle · Alain Poher · Georges Pompidou · Valéry Giscard d'Estaing · François Mitterrand Spain Francisco Franco · Luis Carrero Blanco · Juan Carlos I of Spain · Adolfo Suárez · Felipe González People's Republic of Poland Bolesław Bierut · Władysław Gomułka · Edward Gierek · Wojciech Jaruzelski · Pope John Paul II · Lech Wałęsa Canada William Lyon Mackenzie King · Louis St. Laurent  · John Diefenbaker  · Lester Pearson  · Pierre Trudeau  · Joe Clark  · John Turner  · Brian Mulroney  · Kim Campbell Eastern Bloc Enver Hoxha (Albania) · Josip Broz Tito (Yugoslavia) · Imre Nagy · János Kádár (Hungary) · Nicolae Ceauşescu (Romania) · Alexander Dubček (Czechoslovakia) · Walter Ulbricht  · Erich Honecker (East Germany) · Todor Zhivkov (Bulgaria) Far East Chiang Kai-shek · Chiang Ching-kuo (Taiwan) · Syngman Rhee · Park Chung-hee (South Korea) · Kim Il-sung (North Korea) · Ho Chi Minh (North Vietnam) · Ngo Dinh Diem (South Vietnam) · Pol Pot (Cambodia) · U Nu · Ne Win (Burma) · Indira Gandhi · Jawaharlal Nehru (India) · Sukarno · Suharto · Mohammad Hatta · Adam Malik (Indonesia) · Corazon Aquino · Nur Misuari · Jose Maria Sison · Ferdinand Marcos · Imelda Marcos (Philippines) Latin America Fidel Castro (Cuba) · Che Guevara (Argentina/Cuba) · Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua) · Salvador Allende · Augusto Pinochet (Chile) · Getúlio Vargas · Luís Carlos Prestes · João Goulart · Castelo Branco (Brazil) Middle East Mohammad Reza Pahlavi · Ayatollah Khomeini (Iran) · Saddam Hussein (Iraq) · Gamal Abdel Nasser · Anwar El Sadat (Egypt) · Muammar al-Gaddafi (Libya) · Menachem Begin (Israel) · Mohammad Najibullah · Ahmad Shah Massoud (Afghanistan) Africa Patrice Lumumba · Mobutu Sese Seko (Congo/Zaire) · Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana) · Idi Amin (Uganda) · Agostinho Neto · José Eduardo dos Santos · Jonas Savimbi (Angola) · Mengistu Haile Mariam (Ethiopia) Timeline of events · Portal · Category

v • d • e Fall of Communism Communism · Anti-communism · Criticism of communism Internal conditions Brezhnev stagnation · Cultural Revolution · Eastern Bloc · Eastern Bloc economies · Eastern Bloc politics · Eastern Bloc information dissemination · Eastern Bloc emigration and defection · KGB · Nomenklatura · Samizdat · Shortage economy · Totalitarianism International relations Active measures · Cold War · List of socialist countries · Predictions of Soviet collapse · Reagan Doctrine · Soviet Empire · Terrorism by the Soviet Union  · Vatican opposition Reforms of socialism Socialism with Chinese characteristics · Perestroika · Glasnost · Demokratizatsiya · Sinatra Doctrine Events by country Eastern Bloc countries: Albania · Bulgaria · Czechoslovakia · East Germany · Hungary · Poland · Romania · Soviet Union · Yugoslavia Former Soviet Republics: Armenia · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Estonia · Georgia · Latvia · Lithuania · Kazakhstan · Kirghistan · Moldova · Russia · Tajikstan · Turkmenistan · Ukraine · Uzbekistan Other countries: Afghanistan · Angola · Benin  · Burma · Cambodia · China · People's Republic of the Congo · Ethiopia · Mongolia · Mozambique · Nicaragua · Somalia · South Yemen Communist leaders Ramiz Alia · Heydar Aliyev · Yuri Andropov · Aung San Suu Kyi · Siad Barre · Fidel Castro · Nicolae Ceauşescu · Konstantin Chernenko · Mikhail Gorbachev · Hua Guofeng · Erich Honecker · Enver Hoxha · Kim Il-sung · Milouš Jakeš · Wojciech Jaruzelski · Mathieu Kérékou · Mengistu Haile Mariam · Slobodan Milošević · Denis Sassou Nguesso · Saparmurat Niyazov · Daniel Ortega · Kaysone Phomvihane · Pol Pot · Tôn Đức Thắng · Phoumi Vongvichit · Ne Win · Deng Xiaoping · Todor Zhivkov Anti-communist leaders Sali Berisha · Vladimir Bukovsky · Violeta Chamorro · Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj · Václav Havel · Helmut Kohl · Pope John Paul II · Zianon Pazniak · Augusto Pinochet · Ronald Reagan · Margaret Thatcher · Lech Wałęsa · Boris Yeltsin · Zhelyu Zhelev Democracy movements Chinese democracy movement · Civic Forum · Sąjūdis · Solidarity · Popular Front of Latvia · Popular Front of Estonia · Belarusian Popular Front · National League for Democracy · National Opposition Union · National Salvation Front · Union of Democratic Forces Events Revolutions of 1989 · April 9 tragedy · Black January · Baltic Way · 1988 Polish strikes · Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 · Removal of Hungary's border fence · Polish Round Table Talks · Hungarian Round Table Talks · Pan-European Picnic · Monday demonstrations in East Germany · Fall of the Berlin Wall · Malta Summit · German reunification · January 1991 events in Lithuania · January 1991 events in Latvia · 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt · Yemeni unification · 1973 Chilean coup d'état Post-collapse Colour revolution · Communism remembrance · Decommunization · Democratization · Economic liberalization · Economic reforms after the collapse of socialism · Neo-Stalinism · North Korean famine · Oslo Accords · Post-Communism · Putinism · Special Period · Yugoslav Wars

Persondata
NAME	Kim, Il-sung
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Kim Ilsong, Gim Il-seong, 김일성, 金日成
SHORT DESCRIPTION	President of North Korea
DATE OF BIRTH	15 April 1912(1912-04-15)
PLACE OF BIRTH	Pyongyang, North Korea
DATE OF DEATH	8 July 1994
PLACE OF DEATH	Pyongyang, North Korea