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'{{Short description|Founder and first leader of North Korea}} {{pp-semi-indef}} {{pp-move-indef}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} {{family name hatnote|Kim||lang=Korean}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = [[Eternal leaders of North Korea|Eternal Leader]]<br />[[Taewonsu|Generalissimo]] | name = Kim Il-sung | native_name = {{nobold|{{lang|ko-Hang|김일성}}}} | image = Kim Il-sung in 1950.jpg | caption = Kim Il-sung in 1950 | office1 = 1st [[List of leaders of North Korea#Supreme leader of North Korea|Supreme Leader of North Korea]] | term_start1 = 9 September 1948 | term_end1 = 8 July 1994 | predecessor1 = Office established | successor1 = [[Kim Jong-il]] | office3 = 1st [[President of North Korea]] | term_start3 = 28 December 1972 | term_end3 = 8 July 1994 | predecessor3 = ''Office established''{{efn|[[Choe Yong-gon (army commander)|Choi Yong-kun]] was previously [[head of state]] as the [[President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly]].}} | successor3 = ''Office abolished''{{efn|[[Kim Yong-nam]] became later [[head of state]] as the [[President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly]].}} | premier3 = [[Kim Il (politician)|Kim Il]]<br>[[Pak Song-chol]]<br>[[Ri Jong-ok]]<br>[[Kang Song-san]]<br>[[Ri Kun-mo]]<br>[[Yon Hyong-muk]]<br>[[Kang Song-san]] | vicepresident3 = {{plain list|[[Choe Yong-gon (army commander)|Choe Yong-gon]]<br />[[Kang Ryang-uk]]<br />Kim Tong-kyu<br />[[Kim Il (politician)|Kim Il]]<br />[[Pak Song-chol]]<br />{{ill|Rim Chun-chu|ko|임춘추|zh|林春秋|ja|林春秋}}<br />[[Ri Jong-ok]]<br />[[Kim Pyong-sik]]}} | office4 = 1st [[Premier of North Korea]] | 1blankname4 = First Vice Premier | 1namedata4 = [[Kim Il (politician)|Kim Il]] | 2blankname4 = Vice Premier | 2namedata4 = {{plain list|[[Pak Hon-yong]]<br />[[Hong Myong-hui]]<br />[[Kim Chaek]]<br />[[Kim Il (politician)|Kim Il]]<br />[[Jong Il-ryong]]<br />[[Nam Il]]<br />[[Pak Ui-wan]]<br />[[Jong Jun-thaek]]<br />[[Kim Kwang-hyop]]<br />[[Kim Chang-man]]<br />[[Ri Jong-ok]]<br />[[Ri Ju-yon]]<br />[[Pak Song-chol]]<br />[[Choe Yong-jin]]}} | predecessor4 = ''Office established'' | successor4 = [[Kim Il (politician)|Kim Il]] | term_start4 = 9 September 1948 | term_end4 = 28 December 1972 | office5 = [[Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea|General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea]] <small> <br /> (to 11 October 1966 as ''Chairman'') </small> | term_start5 = 30 June 1949 | term_end5 = 8 July 1994 | predecessor5 = [[Kim Tu-bong]] | successor5 = [[Kim Jong-il]] | office6 = [[Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army|Supreme Commander <br /> of the Korean People's Army]] | term_start6 = 5 July 1950 | term_end6 = 24 December 1991 | predecessor6 = [[Choe Yong-gon (army commander)|Choe Yong-gon]] | successor6 = [[Kim Jong-il]] | birth_name = Kim Sŏng-ju | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1912|4|15}} | birth_place = {{longitem|style=line-height:1.25em; |[[Mangyongdae]], [[Pyongyang|P'yŏng'yang-bu]], [[South Pyongan Province|P'yŏng'annam-do]], [[Korea under Japanese rule|Japanese Korea]]}} | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1994|7|8|1912|4|15}} | death_place = {{longitem|style=line-height:1.25em; |Hyangsan Residence, [[Hyangsan County]], [[North Pyongan Province|North P'yŏngan province]], [[North Korea]]}} | resting_place = {{longitem|style=line-height:1.25em; |[[Kumsusan Palace of the Sun]], Pyongyang}} | nationality = North Korean | spouse = {{unbulleted list|style=line-height:1.3em;white-space:nowrap;|{{marriage|[[Kim Jong-suk]]|1941|1949|end=died}} |{{marriage|[[Kim Song-ae]]<br>|1952}}}} | children = {{hlist|style=line-height:1.3em; ||[[Kim Jong-il]] |[[Kim Man-il]] |[[Kim Kyong-hui]] |Kim Kyong-jin |[[Kim Pyong-il]] |Kim Yong-il}} | parents = {{unbulleted list|[[Kim Hyong-jik]]|[[Kang Pan-sok]]}} | relatives = [[Kim Chol-ju]] (younger brother)<br />[[Kim Yong-ju]] (younger brother) | residence = Pyongyang, North Korea | profession = Politician | allegiance = {{unbulleted list|style=white-space:nowrap; |{{Flagicon|North Korea}} [[North Korea]]|{{flag|Soviet Union|1936}}|{{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Communist-controlled China (1927–1949)|Communist China]]}} | branch = {{Army|North Korea}}<br />{{Flagicon image|Red Army flag.svg}} [[Red Army]]<br />{{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army]] | serviceyears = {{unbulleted list |1941–1945 |1948–1994}} | rank = [[File:DPRK-Army-OF-12.svg|30px]] [[Taewonsu]] (대원수, roughly translated as [[Grand Marshal]] or [[Generalissimo]]) | commands = {{nowrap|''All''{{nbsp|1}}([[Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army|Supreme Commander]])}} | battles = {{unbulleted list |[[World War II]] |[[Korean War]]}} | party = [[Workers' Party of Korea]] | otherparty = [[Workers' Party of North Korea]] (1946–1949)<br />[[Communist Party of China]] (1931–1946) | signature = Kim Il Sung Signature.svg | footnotes = {{Collapsible list |titlestyle = background-color:#FCF;text-align:center; |title = Central institution membership |bullets = on | 1980–1994: Member, Presidium of the Political Bureau of the 6th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea | 1970-1980: Member, Political Committee of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea | 1966–1994: Secretariat of the Workers' Party of Korea | 1966-1970: Member, Standing Committee of the Political Committee of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea | 1961-1970: Chairman, Political Committee of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea | 1956-1961: Member, Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea | 1948–1994: Deputy, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th Supreme People's Assembly | 1946-1956: Member, Political Committee of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea | 1946–1994: Member, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea }} ---- {{Collapsible list |titlestyle = background-color:#FCF;text-align:center; |title = Other offices held |bullets = on | 1982-1994: Chairman, Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea | 1972–1992: Chairman, National Defense Commission of the Central People's Committee of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea | 1970-1982: Chairman, Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea | 1992-1993: Chairman, National Defense Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea | 1947-1948: Chairman, People's Committee of North Korea | 1946–1949: Vice Chairman, Central Committee of the Workers' Party of North Korea | 1946-1947: Chairman, Provisional People's Committee of North Korea | 1945–1946: Chairman, North Korea Bureau of the [[Communist Party of Korea]] }} ---- <center>'''[[List of leaders of North Korea|Leader of the Democratic People's <br /> Republic of Korea]]'''<br /> {{flatlist| * (''Inaugural holder'') * [[Kim Jong-il]] {{big|'''→'''}} }} </center> | module = {{Infobox Korean name|child=yes | title = '''Kim Il-sung''' or '''Kim Il Sung''' | image = Kim Il sung.svg | caption = "Kim Il-sung" in [[Hanja|hancha]] (top) and [[Hangul|Chosŏn'gŭl]] (bottom) scripts | context = north | hangul = {{linktext|김|일|성}} | hanja = {{linktext|lang=ko-Hant|金|日|成}} | mr = Kim Ilsŏng | rr = Kim Il(-)seong | tablewidth = 265 | color = lavender | hangulborn = {{linktext|김|성|주}} | hanjaborn = {{linktext|lang=ko-Hant|金|成|柱}} | rrborn = Kim Seong(-)ju | mrborn = Kim Sŏngchu }} }} '''Kim Il-sung'''{{efn|Officially [[Transcription (linguistics)|transcribed]] as '''Kim Il Sung''' by North Korean sources.}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɪ|m|_|ˈ|ɪ|l|ˈ|s|ʌ|ŋ|,_|-|ˈ|s|ʊ|ŋ}};<ref>{{Cite book | chapter = Kim Il Sung | title = American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language | date = n.d. | edition = Fifth | access-date = 6 March 2017 | chapter-url = http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Kim+Il+Sung}}</ref> {{Korean|hangul=김일성|hanja=|rr=|mr=|context=north}}, {{IPA-ko|kimils͈ʌŋ}}; born '''Kim Sŏng-ju''' (김성주), 15 April 1912&nbsp;– 8 July 1994) was the [[List of leaders of North Korea|founder]] of [[North Korea]], which he ruled from the [[Day of the Foundation of the Republic (North Korea)|country's establishment]] in 1948 until his [[Death and state funeral of Kim Il-sung|death]] in 1994. He held the posts of [[Premier of North Korea|Premier]] from 1948 to 1972 and [[President of North Korea|President]] from 1972 to 1994. He was also the [[leader of the Workers' Party of Korea]] (WPK) from 1949 to 1994 (titled as Chairman from 1949 to 1966 and as General Secretary after 1966). Coming to power after the end of [[Korea under Japanese rule|Japanese rule]] in 1945, he authorized the invasion of [[South Korea]] in 1950, triggering an intervention in defense of South Korea by the [[United Nations]] led by the [[United States]]. Following the military stalemate in the [[Korean War]], a ceasefire was signed on 27 July 1953. He was the third longest-serving non-royal head of state/government in the 20th century, in office for more than 45 years. Under his leadership, North Korea was established as a [[communist state]] with a [[Economy of North Korea|publicly owned and planned economy]]. It had close political and economic relations with the [[Soviet Union]]. By the late 1950s and during the 1960s and 1970s, North Korea enjoyed a higher standard of living than the South, which was [[History of South Korea#First Republic 1948–1960|suffering from political chaos and economic crises]]. The situation was reversed in the 1980s, as a newly stable South Korea became an economic powerhouse which was fueled by Japanese and American investment, military aid and internal economic development, while North Korea [[Economic stagnation|stagnated]] and then [[Economic collapse|declined]] during the same period. Differences emerged between North Korea and the Soviet Union, chief among them was Kim Il-sung's philosophy of ''[[Juche]]'', which focused on [[Korean nationalism]], [[Autarky|self-reliance]] and [[socialism]]. Despite this, the country received funds, subsidies and aid from the USSR (and the [[Eastern Bloc]]) until the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|dissolution of the USSR]] in 1991. The resulting loss of economic aid adversely affected the North's economy, causing [[North Korean Famine|widespread famine]] in 1994. During this period, North Korea also remained critical of the [[United States Forces Korea|United States defense force]]'s presence in the region, which it considered [[American imperialism|imperialist]], having seized the American ship [[USS Pueblo AGER-2|USS ''Pueblo'']] in 1968, which was part of an [[Korean DMZ Conflict|infiltration and subversion campaign]] to [[Korean reunification|reunify]] the [[Korean Peninsula|peninsula]] under North Korea's rule. He outlived [[Joseph Stalin]] by four decades and [[Chinese Communist Party]] chairman [[Mao Zedong]] by almost two and remained in power during the terms of office of six [[List of Presidents of South Korea#List of Presidents of the Republic of Korea|South Korean Presidents]], ten [[List of Presidents of the United States|US Presidents]] and the reigns of [[United Kingdom|British]] monarchs [[George VI]] and later his daughter [[Elizabeth II]]. Known as the [[Great Leader (concept)|Great Leader]] (''Suryong''), he established a [[Kim Il-sung's cult of personality|personality cult]] which dominates [[Politics of North Korea|domestic politics in North Korea]]. At the [[6th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea|6th WPK Congress]] in 1980, his oldest son [[Kim Jong-il]] was elected to be a [[Presidium of the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea|Presidium]] member and chosen to be his successor. Kim Il-sung's birthday is a [[Public holidays in North Korea|public holiday in North Korea]] called the "[[Day of the Sun]]". In 1998, 4 years after his death, Kim Il-sung was declared "[[Eternal leaders of North Korea|Eternal President of the Republic]]". == Early life == === Controversy about origins === Controversy surrounds Kim's life before the founding of North Korea, with some labeling him an impostor. Several sources indicate that the name "Kim Il-sung" had previously been used by a prominent early leader of the [[Korean resistance]], [[Kim Kyung-cheon]].<ref name="Rogue">{{cite book|author=Jasper Becker |title=Rogue Regime : Kim Jong Il and the Looming Threat of North Korea |url=https://archive.org/details/rogueregimekimjo00beck |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/rogueregimekimjo00beck/page/44 44] |date=1 May 2005 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-803810-8 }}</ref>{{rp|44}} The Soviet officer Grigory Mekler, who worked with Kim during the [[Soviet occupation of Korea|Soviet occupation]], said that Kim assumed this name from a former commander who had died.<ref>{{cite news |title= Soviets groomed Kim Il Sung for leadership |url= http://vn.vladnews.ru/Arch/2003/ISS345/News/upd10.HTM |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090610172839/http://vn.vladnews.ru/Arch/2003/ISS345/News/upd10.HTM |archive-date= 10 June 2009 |date= 10 January 2003| work= Vladivostok News}}</ref> However, historian [[Andrei Lankov]] has argued that this 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.<ref name="Lankov"/>{{rp|55}} Historian [[Bruce Cumings]] pointed out that Japanese officers from the [[Kwantung Army]] have attested to his fame as a resistance figure.<ref name="Cumings">{{cite book|first=Bruce |last=Cumings |title=Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History (Updated) |publisher=W W Norton & Co |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yKN_q-TqYYgC&pg=160-161 |location=New York |date=17 September 2005 |isbn=978-0-393-32702-1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518130003/https://books.google.com/books?id=yKN_q-TqYYgC&pg=160-161 |archive-date=18 May 2016 }}</ref>{{rp|160–161}} Historians generally accept the view that, while Kim's exploits were exaggerated by the [[North Korean cult of personality|personality cult]] which was built around him, he was a significant guerrilla leader.<ref>{{cite book| title = The Making of Modern Korea | last = Buzo | first = Adrian | year = 2002| publisher = Routledge| location = London | isbn = 978-0-415-23749-9 |page=56}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title = Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey | url = https://archive.org/details/koreastwentieth00robi | url-access = registration | last = Robinson | first = Michael E | year = 2007 | publisher = University of Hawaii Press | location = Honolulu | isbn = 978-0-8248-3174-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/koreastwentieth00robi/page/87 87]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| last1= Oberdorfer| first1=Don| last2=Carlin| first2=Robert | title=The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History | publisher = Basic Books| year = 2014 | pages = 13–14 | isbn = 9780465031238}}</ref> A documentation at the [[National Archives and Records Administration]] shows that [[US Army Military Government in Korea]] have acknowledged that Kim was formerly named Kim Sŏng-ju, and he was a nephew of Anti-Japanese General Kim Il-sung, later he used his uncle's name after his uncle's death.<ref>{{cite news |title=美资料揭秘：金日成是冒牌金日成(图) |url=http://news.163.com/09/0814/10/5GM1LUA00001121M.html |date=2009-08-14 |access-date=2016-05-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624203425/http://news.163.com/09/0814/10/5GM1LUA00001121M.html |archive-date=2016-06-24 |url-status=dead |language=zh }}</ref> === Family background === {{Quote box | quote = Around the time the song ''Star of Korea'' was being spread, my comrades changed my name and began to call me Han Byol ... meaning "One Star". It was Pyon Tae U and other public-minded people in Wujiazi and such young communists as Choe Il Chon who proposed to change my name into Kim Il Sung. Thus I was called by three names, Song Ju, Han Byol and Il Sung. ... I did not like to be called by another name. Still less did I tolerate the people extolling me by comparing me to a star or the sun; it did not befit me, [as a] young man. But my comrades would not listen to me, no matter how sternly I rebuked them for it or argued against it.... It was in the spring of 1931 when I spent some three weeks in prison, having been arrested by the warlords in Guyushu, that the name Kim Il Sung appeared in the press for the first time. Until that time most of my acquaintances had called me by my real name, Song Ju. It was in later years when I started the armed struggle in east Manchuria that I was called by one name, Kim Il Sung, by my comrades. These comrades upheld me as their leader, even giving me a new name and singing a song about me. Thus they expressed their innermost feelings. | author =—Kim Il-sung | source = ''[[With the Century]]''<ref name="Kim1994">{{cite book|author=Kim Il-sung|date= 1994|title=With the Century|volume=2 |url=http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/book/download.php?2+2002#.pdf |location=Pyongyang |publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House|oclc=28377167|access-date=17 October 2014}}</ref>{{rp|110–111}} | align = right | width = 35% }} He was born to [[Kim Hyong-jik|Kim Hyŏng-jik]] and [[Kang Pan-sok|Kang Pan-sŏk]], who gave him the name Kim Sŏng-ju; Kim also had two younger brothers, Ch’ŏl-chu (or Kim Chul-ju) and [[Kim Yong-ju|Kim Yŏng-ju]].<ref name="BaikBong1">{{Cite book | author=Baik Bong | title=Kim il Sung: Volume I: From Birth to Triumphant Return to Homeland | publisher=Dar Al-talia | location=Beirut, Lebanon | year=1973| author-link=Baik Bong }}</ref>{{Better source|date=November 2017}}{{rp|15}} Kim's family is said to have originated from [[Jeonju]], [[North Jeolla Province]]. His great-grandfather, Kim Ung-u, settled in [[Mangyongdae]] in 1860. Kim is reported to have been born in the small village of [[Mangyongdae-guyok|Mangyungbong]] (then called Namni) near Pyongyang on 15 April 1912.<ref name="dailynk.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=11335&cataId=nk03600 |title=Soviet Officer Reveals Secrets of Mangyongdae |publisher=Daily NK |access-date=15 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140211183034/http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=11335&cataId=nk03600 |archive-date=11 February 2014 |date=2 January 2014 }}</ref><ref name="BaikBong1" />{{rp|12}} An early semi-official biography of Kim Il-sung, which published in 1964 in Japan with North Korean support, reported that Kim was born in his mother's home in Chingjong, and grew up in Mangyungbong.<ref>{{cite book|author=[[Andrei Lankov]] |title=The DPRK yesterday and today. Informal history of North Korea |url=https://www.litmir.me/br/?b=243895&p=1 |page=[https://www.litmir.me/br/?b=243895&p=73 73] |date=2004 |publisher=Восток-Запад (English: East-West) |location=Moscow |id=243895 }}</ref>{{rp|73}} According to Kim, his family was not very poor, but was always a step away from poverty. Kim said that he was raised in a [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] family, that his maternal grandfather was a Protestant [[Minister (Christianity)|minister]], that his father had gone to a missionary school and was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and that his parents were very active in the religious community.<ref>[http://www.kimjongiliathemovie.com/learnmore.html Kimjongilia – The Movie – Learn More] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100918043045/http://www.kimjongiliathemovie.com/learnmore.html |date=18 September 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-rage-against-god-by-peter-hitchens-1965109.html |location=London |work=The Independent |title=The Rage Against God, By Peter Hitchens |first=Sholto |last=Byrnes |date=7 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100512025421/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-rage-against-god-by-peter-hitchens-1965109.html |archive-date=12 May 2010 }}</ref> According to the official version, Kim's family participated in anti-Japanese activities and in 1920, they fled to [[Manchuria]]. Like most Korean families, they resented the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula, which began on 29 August 1910.<ref name="BaikBong1"/>{{rp|12}} Another view seems to be that his family settled in Manchuria, as many Koreans had at the time, to escape famine. Nonetheless, Kim's parents, especially Kim's mother Kang Ban Suk, played a role in the anti-Japanese struggle that was sweeping the peninsula.<ref name="BaikBong1"/>{{rp|16}} Their exact involvement—whether their cause was missionary, nationalist, or both—is unclear nevertheless.<ref name="Lankov">{{cite book |last=Lankov |first=Andrei |title=From Stalin to Kim Il Sung: The Formation of North Korea 1945–1960 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0813531175 }}</ref>{{rp|53}} Still, Japanese repression of opposition was brutal, resulting in the arrest and detention of more than 52,000 Korean citizens in 1912 alone.<ref name="BaikBong1"/>{{rp |13}} This repression forced many Korean families to flee Korea and settle in Manchuria. === Communist and guerrilla activities === In October 1926, Kim founded the [[Down-with-Imperialism Union]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kim Il-sung Death Anniversary: How the North Korea Founder Created a Cult of Personality |last=Smith |first=Lydia |work=International Business Times UK |date=8 July 2014 |access-date=1 October 2014 |url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/kim-il-sung-death-anniversary-how-north-korea-founder-became-cult-personality-1455758 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006150839/http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/kim-il-sung-death-anniversary-how-north-korea-founder-became-cult-personality-1455758 |archive-date=6 October 2014 }}</ref> Kim attended Whasung Military Academy in 1926, but finding the academy's training methods outdated, he quit in 1927. From that time, he attended [[Jilin Yuwen High School|Yuwen Middle School]] in [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|China]]'s [[Jilin|Jilin province]] up to 1930,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/28/world/asia/28korea.html?_r=1&hp |work=The New York Times |title=Carter Wins Release of American in North Korea |first1=Choe |last1=Sang-Hun |first2=Sharon |last2=Lafraniere |date=27 August 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630231240/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/28/world/asia/28korea.html?_r=1&hp |archive-date=30 June 2017 }}</ref> where he rejected the feudal traditions of older-generation Koreans and became interested in [[Communism|communist]] ideologies; his formal education ended when the police arrested and jailed him for his subversive activities. At seventeen, Kim had become the youngest member of an underground [[Marxism|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 formed in 1929, and jailed Kim for several months.<ref name="Lankov"/>{{rp|52}}<ref>Suh Dae-Sook, ''Kim Il Sung: The North Korean Leader'', [[Columbia University Press]] (1998) p. 7.</ref> In 1931, Kim joined the [[Communist Party of China]]—the [[Communist Party of Korea]] had been founded in 1925, but had been thrown out of the [[Communist International|Comintern]] in the early 1930s for being too nationalist. He joined various anti-Japanese [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] groups in northern China. Feelings against the Japanese ran high in Manchuria, but as of May 1930 the Japanese had not yet occupied Manchuria. On 30 May 1930, a spontaneous violent uprising in eastern Manchuria arose in which peasants attacked some local villages in the name of resisting "Japanese aggression."<ref>Kim Il-Sung, "Let Us Repudiate the 'Left' Adventurist Line and Follow the Revolutionary Organizational Line" contained in ''On Juche in Our Revolution'' (Foreign Languages Publishers: Pyongyang, Korea, 1973)3.</ref> The authorities easily suppressed this unplanned, reckless and unfocused uprising. Because of the attack, the Japanese began to plan an occupation of Manchuria.<ref>{{cite book|last=Yamamuro |first=Shin'ichi |date=2006 |title=Manchuria Under Japanese Dominion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Jx0BAAAQBAJ&q=may%2030%201930%20manchuria%20uprising&pg=PA24 |access-date=8 February 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518062413/https://books.google.com/books?id=7Jx0BAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA24&ots=YiKIyIWckn&dq=may%2030%201930%20manchuria%20uprising&pg=PA24 |archive-date=18 May 2016 |isbn=9780812239126 }}</ref> In a speech before a meeting of Young Communist League delegates on 20 May 1931 in Yenchi County in Manchuria, Kim warned the delegates against such unplanned uprisings as the 30 May 1930 uprising in eastern Manchuria.<ref>Kim Il-Sung, "Let Us Repudiate the 'Left' Adventurist Line and Follow the Revolutionary Organizational Line" contained in ''On Juche in Our Revolution'', pp.1-15.</ref> Four months later, on 18 September 1931, the "[[Mukden Incident]]" occurred, in which a relatively weak dynamite explosive charge went off near a Japanese railroad in the town of Mukden in Manchuria. Although no damage occurred, the Japanese used the incident as an excuse to send armed forces into Manchuria and to appoint a [[Manchukuo|puppet government]].<ref>Kim Il-Sung, "On Waging Armed Struggle Against Japanese Imperialism" on 16 December 1931 contained in ''On Juche in Our Revolution'', pp. 17-20.</ref> In 1935, Kim became a member of the [[Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army]], a guerrilla group led by the [[Communist Party of China]]. Kim was appointed{{by whom|date=July 2015}} the same year to serve as political commissar for the 3rd detachment of the second division, consisting of around 160 soldiers.<ref name="Lankov"/>{{rp|53}} Here Kim met the man who would become his mentor as a communist, Wei Zhengmin, Kim's immediate superior officer, who served 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.<ref>Suh Dae-Sook, ''Kim Il Sung: The North Korean Leader'', Columbia University Press (1998) pp. 8–10.</ref> In 1935, Kim took the name ''Kim Il-sung'', meaning "Kim become the sun".<ref name="Martin2004"> {{cite book |title= Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty |author= Bradley K. Martin |publisher= Thomas Dunne Books |year= 2004 |isbn= 978-0-312-32322-6}} </ref>{{rp|30}} 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". While commanding this division, he executed a [[Battle of Pochonbo|raid on Poch’onbo]], on 4 June 1937. Although Kim's division only captured the small Japanese-held town just within the Korean border for a few hours, it was nonetheless considered{{by whom|date=July 2015}} 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. For their part, the Japanese regarded Kim as one of the most effective and popular Korean guerrilla leaders.<ref name="Cumings"/>{{rp|160–161}}<ref>{{cite book | title = Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey | url = https://archive.org/details/koreastwentieth00robi/page/87 | url-access = registration | last = Robinson | first = Michael E | year = 2007 | publisher = University of Hawaii Press | location = Honolulu | isbn = 978-0-8248-3174-5 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/koreastwentieth00robi/page/87 87, 155] }}</ref> He appeared on Japanese wanted lists as the "Tiger".<ref name="McCormack 1993">{{cite book | title = Korea since 1850 | last1 = Lone | first1 = Stewart| last2 = McCormack | first2 = Gavan | author-link2 = Gavan McCormack | publisher = Longman Cheshire | location = Melbourne | year = 1993 | page=100 }}</ref> The Japanese "Maeda Unit" was sent to hunt him in February 1940.<ref name="McCormack 1993"/> Later in 1940, the Japanese kidnapped a woman named Kim Hye-sun, believed to have been Kim Il Sung's first wife. After using her as a hostage to try to convince the Korean guerrillas to surrender, she was killed. 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.<ref name="Lankov"/>{{rp|53–54}} Kim was sent to a camp at [[Vyatskoye, Khabarovsk Krai|Vyatskoye]] near [[Khabarovsk]], where the Soviets retrained the Korean communist guerrillas. In August 1942, Kim and his army were assigned to a special unit which belong to the [[Soviet Red Army]]. Kim's immediate superior was [[Zhou Baozhong]].<ref>{{cite web|language=zh-hant|url=http://dangshi.people.com.cn/BIG5/16700257.html|date=23 December 2011|access-date=1 June 2019|script-title=zh:金日成父子與周保中父女的兩代友誼|website=people.com.cn |author=寸麗香}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nknews.org/2019/02/how-an-obscure-red-army-unit-became-the-cradle-of-the-north-korean-elite/|date=4 February 2019|access-date=1 June 2019|title=How an obscure Red Army unit became the cradle of the North Korean elite|publisher=[[NK News]]|author=Fyodor Tertitskiy}}</ref> Kim became a Major in the Soviet Red Army and served in it until the end of [[World War II]] in 1945. === Return to Korea === [[File:28.08.1946 Labour Party North Korea.jpg|thumb|right|Kim Il-sung (centre) and [[Kim Tu-bong]] (second from right) at the joint meeting of the [[New People's Party of Korea|New People's Party]] and the [[Workers' Party of North Korea]] in Pyongyang, 28 August 1946]] The Soviet Union declared [[Soviet–Japanese War|war on Japan]] on 8 August 1945, and the Red Army entered Pyongyang on 24 August 1945. Stalin had instructed [[Lavrentiy Beria]] to recommend a communist leader for the [[Military occupations by the Soviet Union|Soviet-occupied territories]] and Beria met Kim several times before recommending him to Stalin.<ref name="dailynk.com"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ysfine.com/wisdom/wk01.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528043524/http://ysfine.com/wisdom/wk01.html|url-status=dead|title=Wisdom of Korea|archive-date=28 May 2013|website=ysfine.com}}</ref><ref name="scmp.com">{{cite web|author=Mark O&#039;Neill |url=http://www.scmp.com/article/727755/kim-il-sungs-secret-history |title=Kim Il-sung's secret history &#124; South China Morning Post |publisher=Scmp.com |access-date=15 April 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227095258/http://www.scmp.com/article/727755/kim-il-sungs-secret-history |archive-date=27 February 2014 }}</ref> Kim arrived in the Korean port of [[Wonsan]] on 19 September 1945 after 26 years in exile.<ref name="Martin2004"/>{{rp|51}} According to Leonid Vassin, an officer with the Soviet [[Ministry of Internal Affairs (Soviet Union)|MVD]], Kim was essentially "created from zero". For one, his Korean was marginal at best; he only had eight years of formal education, all of it in Chinese. He needed considerable coaching to read a speech (which the MVD prepared for him) at a Communist Party congress three days after he arrived.<ref name="Rogue"/>{{rp|50}} In December 1945, the Soviets installed Kim as chairman of the North Korean branch of the [[Korean Communist Party]].<ref name="Martin2004"/>{{rp|56}} Originally, the Soviets preferred [[Cho Man-sik]] to lead a [[popular front]] government, but Cho refused to support a UN-backed trusteeship and clashed with Kim.<ref name="Armstrong2013">{{cite book|last=Armstrong|first=Charles|date=15 April 2013|title=The North Korean Revolution, 1945–1950|publisher=Cornell University Press.}}</ref> General [[Terentii Shtykov]], who led the Soviet occupation of northern Korea, supported Kim over [[Pak Hon-yong]] to lead the [[People's Committee of North Korea|Provisional People's Committee for North Korea]] on 8 February 1946.<ref name=LankovArticle>{{cite news|last=Lankov |first=Andrei |date=25 January 2012 |title=Terenti Shtykov: the other ruler of nascent N. Korea |url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/01/363_103451.html |newspaper=[[The Korea Times]] |access-date=14 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150417010008/http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/01/363_103451.html |archive-date=17 April 2015 }}</ref> As chairman of the committee, Kim was "the top Korean administrative leader in the North," though he was still ''de facto'' subordinate to General Shtykov until the Chinese intervention in the Korean War.<ref name="scmp.com"/><ref name="Martin2004"/>{{rp|56}}<ref name=LankovArticle/> To solidify his control, Kim established the [[Korean People's Army]] (KPA), aligned with the Communist Party, and he recruited a cadre of guerrillas and former soldiers who had gained combat experience in battles against the Japanese and later against [[National Revolutionary Army|Nationalist Chinese]] troops.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fas.org/irp/world/rok/nis-docs/defense02.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306013620/http://fas.org/irp/world/rok/nis-docs/defense02.htm|url-status=dead|title=Defense|archive-date=6 March 2016}}</ref> Using Soviet advisers and equipment, Kim constructed a large army skilled in infiltration tactics and guerrilla warfare. Prior to Kim's invasion of the South in 1950, which triggered the Korean War, Stalin equipped the KPA with modern, Soviet-built medium tanks, trucks, artillery, and small arms. Kim also formed an air force, equipped at first with Soviet-built propeller-driven fighters and attack aircraft. Later, North Korean pilot candidates were sent to the Soviet Union and China to train in [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15|MiG-15]] jet aircraft at secret bases.<ref>Blair, Clay, ''The Forgotten War: America in Korea'', [[Naval Institute Press]] (2003).</ref> == Leader of North Korea == === Early years === Despite [[United Nations]] plans to conduct all-Korean elections, the Soviets held elections of their own in their zone on [[1948 North Korean parliamentary election|25 August 1948]] for a [[Supreme People's Assembly]]. Voters were presented with a single list from the Communist-dominated [[Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland]].{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} The [[North Korea|Democratic People's Republic of Korea]] was proclaimed on 9 September 1948, with Kim as the Soviet-designated premier. On 15 August 1948, the south had declared statehood as the [[First Republic of Korea|Republic of Korea]]. The Communist Party was nominally led by [[Kim Tu-bong]], though from the outset Kim Il-sung held the real power.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} On 12 October, the Soviet Union recognized Kim's government as the sovereign government of the entire peninsula, including the south.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ncnk.org/resources/briefing-papers/all-briefing-papers/dprk-diplomatic-relations|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419051757/http://www.ncnk.org/resources/briefing-papers/all-briefing-papers/dprk-diplomatic-relations|url-status=dead|title=DPRK Diplomatic Relations|date=11 April 2017|archive-date=19 April 2014|website=NCNK}}</ref> The Communist Party merged with the [[New People's Party of Korea]] to form the [[Workers' Party of North Korea]], with Kim as vice-chairman. In 1949, the Workers' Party of North Korea merged with its [[Workers' Party of South Korea|southern counterpart]] to become the [[Workers' Party of Korea]] (WPK) with Kim as [[Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea|party chairman]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/event/nkorea_nuclear/general_03c.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080305052724/http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/event/nkorea_nuclear/general_03c.htm|url-status=dead|title=KBS WORLD Radio|archive-date=5 March 2008|website=world.kbs.co.kr}}</ref> By 1949, Kim and the communists had consolidated their rule in North Korea.<ref name=Rogue/>{{rp|53}} Around this time, Kim began promoting an intense [[Kim Il-sung's cult of personality|personality cult]]. The first of many statues of him appeared, and he began calling himself "Great Leader".<ref name=Rogue/>{{rp|53}} In February 1946, Kim Il-sung decided to introduce a number of reforms. Over 50% of the [[arable land]] was redistributed, an 8-hour work day was proclaimed and all [[heavy industry]] was to be [[Nationalization|nationalized]].<ref>Kim Il Sung: The North Korean Leader page 68</ref> There were improvements in the health of the population after he [[Nationalized health care|nationalized healthcare]] and made it available to all citizens.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1FaXAgAAQBAJ&q=kim+il+sung+health+care&pg=PA104 |title=Kim Jong Il's North Korea|isbn=9781467703550|last1=Behnke|first1=Alison|date=1 August 2012}}</ref> === Korean War === {{main|Korean War}} Archival material suggests<ref name="weathersby432">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): 432</ref><ref name="goncharov">Goncharov, Sergei N., Lewis, John W. and Xue Litai, ''Uncertain Partners: Stalin, Mao, and the Korean War'' (1993)</ref><ref name="mansourov94107">Mansourov, Aleksandr Y., ''Stalin, Mao, Kim, and China's Decision to Enter the Korean War, 16 September&nbsp;– 15 October 1950: New Evidence from the Russian Archives'', Cold War International History Project Bulletin, Issues 6–7 (Winter 1995/1996): 94–107</ref> that North Korea's decision to invade South Korea was Kim's initiative, not a Soviet one. Evidence suggests that [[Soviet intelligence]], through its espionage sources in the US government and British [[Secret Intelligence Service|SIS]], had obtained information on the limitations of US atomic bomb stockpiles as well as defense program cuts, leading Stalin to conclude that the [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]] administration would not intervene in Korea.<ref>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)</ref> [[China]] acquiesced only reluctantly to the idea of Korean reunification after being told by Kim that Stalin had approved the action.<ref name="weathersby432" /><ref name="goncharov" /><ref name="mansourov94107" /> The Chinese did not provide North Korea with direct military support (other than logistics channels) until United Nations troops, largely US forces, had nearly reached the [[Yalu River]] late in 1950. At the outset of the war in June and July, North Korean forces captured [[Seoul]] and occupied most of the South, save for a small section of territory in the southeast region of the South that was called the [[Battle of Pusan Perimeter|Pusan Perimeter]]. But in September, the North Koreans were driven back by the US-led counterattack that started with the UN landing in [[Incheon]], followed by a combined South Korean-US-UN offensive from the Pusan Perimeter. By October, UN forces had retaken Seoul and invaded the North to reunify the country under the South. On 19 October, US and South Korean troops captured P’yŏngyang, forcing Kim and his government to flee north, first to [[Sinuiju]] and eventually into [[Kanggye]].<ref name=mossman>{{cite book |last=Mossman |first=Billy |date=29 June 2005 |title=United States Army in the Korean War: Ebb and Flow November 1950-July 1951|publisher=University Press of the Pacific |page=51}}</ref><ref name=sandler>{{cite book |last=Sandler |first=Stanley |date=1999 |title=The Korean War: No Victors, No Vanquished |url=https://archive.org/details/koreanwarnovicto0000sand |url-access=registration |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |page=[https://archive.org/details/koreanwarnovicto0000sand/page/108 108]}}</ref> On 25 October 1950, after sending various warnings of their intent to intervene if UN forces did not halt their advance,<ref name="Halberstam 2007">David Halberstam. Halberstam, David (25 September 2007). The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War. Hyperion. Kindle Edition.</ref>{{rp|23}} Chinese troops in the thousands crossed the Yalu River and entered the war as allies of the KPA. There were nevertheless tensions between Kim and the Chinese government. Kim had been warned of the likelihood of an amphibious landing at Incheon, which was ignored. There was also a sense that the North Koreans had paid little in war compared to the Chinese who had fought for their country for decades against foes with better technology.<ref name="Halberstam 2007"/>{{rp|335–336}} The UN troops were forced to withdraw and Chinese troops retook P’yŏngyang in December and Seoul in January 1951. In March, UN forces began a new offensive, retaking Seoul and advanced north once again halting at a point just north of the [[38th parallel north|38th Parallel]]. After a series of offensives and counter-offensives by both sides, followed by a grueling period of largely static [[trench warfare]] that lasted from the summer of 1951 to July 1953, the front was stabilized along what eventually became the permanent "[[Military Demarcation Line|Armistice Line]]" of 27 July 1953. Over 2.5 million people died during the Korean war.<ref>Bethany Lacina and Nils Petter Gleditsch, [http://www.eui.eu/Documents/DepartmentsCentres/SPS/Seminars/SeminarsF09/PVSEMF08/LacinaGleditschMonitoringTrendsInGlobalCombatEJP2005.pdf Monitoring Trends in Global Combat: A New Dataset of Battle Deaths] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012043824/http://www.eui.eu/Documents/DepartmentsCentres/SPS/Seminars/SeminarsF09/PVSEMF08/LacinaGleditschMonitoringTrendsInGlobalCombatEJP2005.pdf |date=12 October 2013 }}, European Journal of Population (2005) 21: 145–166.</ref> Chinese and Russian documents from that time reveal that Kim became increasingly desperate to establish a truce, since the likelihood that further fighting would successfully unify Korea under his rule became more remote with the UN and US presence. Kim also resented the Chinese taking over the majority of the fighting in his country, with Chinese forces stationed at the center of the front line, and the Korean People's Army being mostly restricted to the coastal flanks of the front.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://teachingamericanhistory.org/enwiki/static/neh/interactives/timeline/data/102550.html|title=25 October 1950|website=teachingamericanhistory.org}}</ref> === Consolidating power === [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-38870-0003, Berlin, Otto Nagel, Otto Grotewohl, Kim Ir Sen.jpg|thumb|right|Kim on a 1956 visit to East Germany, chatting with painter [[Otto Nagel]] and Prime Minister [[Otto Grotewohl]]]] With the end of the Korean War, despite the failure to unify Korea under his rule, Kim il-sung proclaimed the war a victory in the sense that he had remained in power in the north. However, the three-year war left North Korea devastated, and Kim immediately embarked on a large reconstruction effort. He launched a five-year national economic plan to establish a [[command economy]], with all industry owned by the state and all agriculture [[Collective farming|collectivized]]. The economy was focused on heavy industry and arms production. By the 1960s, North Korea briefly enjoyed a standard of living higher than the South, which was [[History of South Korea#First Republic 1948–1960|fraught with political instability and economic crises]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Making of Modern Korea|last=Buzo|first=Adrian|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|isbn=978-0-415-23749-9|location=London|page=140}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History|last=Cumings|first=Bruce|publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|year=2005|isbn=978-0-393-32702-1|location=New York|page=434|author-link=Bruce Cumings}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/koreastwentieth00robi|title=Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey|last=Robinson|first=Michael E|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-8248-3174-5|location=Honolulu|page=[https://archive.org/details/koreastwentieth00robi/page/153 153]|url-access=registration}}</ref> Both South and North Korea retained huge armed forces to defend the 1953 [[Korean Demilitarized Zone|Demilitarized Zone]], and US forces remained in the South. In the ensuing years, Kim established himself as an independent leader of [[World communism|international communism]]. In 1956, he joined Mao in the "[[Anti-revisionism|anti-revisionist]]" camp, which did not accept [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s program of [[de-Stalinization]], yet he did not become a [[Maoism|Maoist]] himself. At the same time, he consolidated his power over the [[Communism in Korea|Korean communist movement]]. Rival leaders were eliminated. [[Pak Hon-yong]], leader of the [[Korean Communist Party]], was purged and executed in 1955. [[Choe Chang-ik]] appears to have been purged as well.<ref name="crisis">Lankov, Andrei N., ''Crisis in North Korea: The Failure of De-Stalinization, 1956'', Honolulu: Hawaii University Press (2004), {{ISBN|978-0-8248-2809-7}}</ref><ref>Timothy Hildebrandt, [http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/asia_rpt115b.pdf "Uneasy Allies: Fifty Years of China-North Korea Relations"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224234236/http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/asia_rpt115b.pdf |date=24 February 2015 }}, ''Asia Program Special Report'', September 2003, Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars.</ref> The 1955 [[Juche speech|''Juche'' speech]], which stressed Korean independence, debuted in the context of Kim's power struggle against leaders such as Pak, who had Soviet backing. This was little noticed at the time until state media started talking about it in 1963.<ref name=Chung>Chung, Chin O. Pyongyang Between Peking and Moscow: North Korea's Involvement in the Sino-Soviet Dispute, 1958-1975. University of Alabama. 1978.</ref><ref name=French>French, Paul. North Korea: State of Paranoia. New York: St. Martin's Press. 2014.</ref> [[Kim Il-sung's cult of personality]] had initially been criticized by some members of the government. The North Korean ambassador to the USSR, Li Sangjo, a member of the [[Yan'an faction]], reported that it had become a criminal offense to so much as write on Kim's picture in a newspaper and that he had been elevated to the status of [[Karl Marx|Marx]], [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]], [[Mao Zedong|Mao]], and [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] in the communist pantheon. He also charged Kim with rewriting history so it would appear as if his guerrilla faction had single-handedly liberated Korea from the Japanese, completely ignoring the assistance of the [[Chinese People's Volunteers]]. In addition, Li stated that in the process of agricultural collectivization, grain was being forcibly confiscated from the peasants, leading to "at least 300 suicides" and he also stated that Kim made nearly all major policy decisions and appointments himself. Li reported that over 30,000 people were in prison for completely unjust and arbitrary reasons which were as trivial as not printing Kim Il-sung's portrait on sufficient quality paper or using newspapers with his picture to wrap parcels. Grain confiscation and tax collection were also conducted with force, which consisted of violence, beatings, and threats of imprisonment.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ri|first=Sang-jo|title=Letter from Ri Sang-jo to the Central Committee of the Korean Workers Party|url=https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/114152|publisher=Woodrow Wilson Center|access-date=5 March 2014}}</ref> During the 1956 [[August Faction Incident]], Kim Il-sung successfully resisted Soviet and Chinese efforts to depose him in favor of pro-Soviet Koreans or Koreans who belonged to the pro-Chinese Yan'an faction.<ref name=Sino-SovietSplit>Chung, Chin O. ''Pyongyang Between Peking and Moscow: North Korea's Involvement in the Sino-Soviet Dispute, 1958-1975''. University of Alabama, 1978, p. 45.</ref><ref name=NKMajorPowers>{{cite journal|jstor=2643582|author1=Kim Young Kun|last2=Zagoria|first2=Donald S.|title=North Korea and the Major Powers|journal=Asian Survey|volume=15|number=12|date=December 1975|pages=1017–1035|doi=10.2307/2643582}}</ref> The last Chinese troops withdrew from the country in October 1958, which is the consensus as the latest date when North Korea became effectively independent, though some scholars believe that the 1956 August incident demonstrated North Korea's independence.<ref name=Sino-SovietSplit /><ref name=NKMajorPowers /> During his rise and consolidation of power, Kim created the ''[[songbun]]'' [[caste]] system, which divided the North Korean people into three groups. Each person was classified as belonging to the “core,” “wavering,” or “hostile” class, based on his or her political, social, and economic background – a system which persists today. Songbun was used to decide all aspects of a person's existence in North Korean society, including access to education, housing, employment, food rationing, ability to join the ruling party, and even where a person was allowed to live. Large numbers of people from the so-called hostile class, which included intellectuals, land owners, and former supporters of Japan's occupying government during [[World War II]], were forcibly relocated to the country's isolated and impoverished northern provinces. When years of famine ravaged the country in the 1990s, those people who lived in its marginalized and remote communities were hardest hit.<ref name=Kim-IlSungLegacy>[https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/04/13/north-korea-kim-il-sungs-catastrophic-rights-legacy North Korea: Kim Il-Sung's Catastrophic Rights Legacy] 13 April 2016. [[Human Rights Watch]], 2016.</ref> During his rule, North Korea was responsible for widespread [[Human rights in North Korea|human rights abuses]].<ref>''[[Black Book of Communism]]'', pg. 564.</ref><ref>[http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/Worst%20of%20the%20Worst%202012%20final%20report.pdf The Worst of the Worst: The World's Most Repressive Societies] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607174811/http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/Worst%20of%20the%20Worst%202012%20final%20report.pdf|date=7 June 2013}}. [[Freedom House]], 2012.</ref><ref>[https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP10.HTM Statistics of democide - Chapter 10 - Statistics Of North Korean Democide - Estimates, Calculations, And Sources] by [[Rudolph Rummel]].</ref> Kim Il-Sung punished real and perceived dissent through [[purge]]s which included [[public execution]]s and [[enforced disappearances]]. Not only dissenters but their entire extended families were reduced to the lowest songbun rank, and many of them were relocated to a secret system of political prison camps. These camps or ''[[Kwalliso|kwanliso]]'', a part of Kim's vast network of abusive [[Prisons in North Korea|penal and forced labor institutions]], were fenced and heavily guarded colonies in mountainous areas of the country, where prisoners were forced to perform back-breaking labor such as logging, mining, and picking crops. Most prisoners were held in these camps for life, and their living and working conditions in them were often deadly. For example, prisoners were nearly starved to death, denied medical care, denied proper housing and clothes, subjected to sexual violence, regularly mistreated, [[torture]]d and executed by guards.<ref name=Kim-IlSungLegacy /> === Later rule === [[File:CeausescuKim1971.jpg|thumb|right|Kim greets visiting Romanian President [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] in Pyongyang, 1971]] Despite his opposition to de-Stalinization, Kim never officially severed relations with the Soviet Union, and he did not take part in the [[Sino-Soviet split|Sino-Soviet Split]]. After Khrushchev was replaced by [[Leonid Brezhnev]] in 1964, Kim's relations with the Soviet Union became closer. At the same time, Kim was increasingly alienated by Mao's unstable style of leadership, especially during the [[Cultural Revolution]] in the late 1960s. Kim in turn was denounced by Mao's [[Red Guards]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/NH24Dg01.html|title=Breznhev-Kim Il-Sung relations}}</ref> At the same time, Kim reinstated relations with most of Eastern Europe's communist countries, primarily with [[Erich Honecker]]'s [[East Germany]] and [[Nicolae Ceaușescu|Nicolae Ceauşescu]]'s [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romania]]. Ceauşescu, in particular, was heavily influenced by Kim's ideology, and the [[Nicolae Ceauşescu's cult of personality|personality cult]] which [[July Theses|grew around him]] in Romania was very similar to that of Kim.<ref>Behr, Edward Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite, New York: Villard Books, 1991 page 195.</ref> However, [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|Albania]]'s [[Enver Hoxha]] (another independent-minded communist leader) was a fierce enemy of the country and Kim Il-sung, writing in June 1977 that "genuine [[Marxist-Leninists]]" will understand that the "ideology which is guiding the Korean Workers' Party and the Communist Party of China...is [[Revisionism (Marxism)|revisionist]]" and later that month he added that "in Pyongyang, I believe that even [[Josip Broz Tito|Tito]] will be astonished at the proportions of the cult of his host [Kim Il Sung], which has reached a level unheard of anywhere else, either in past or present times, let alone in a country which calls itself socialist."<ref>Enver Hoxha, ''"[https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hoxha/works/ebooks/reflections_on_china_volume_2.pdf Reflections on China II: Extracts from the Political Diary]"'', Institute of Marxist–Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania," Tirana, 1979, pp 516, 517, 521, 547, 548, 549.</ref><ref>[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] Research 17 December 1979 quoting Hoxha's ''Reflections on China Volume II'': "In [[Pyongyang]], I believe that even Tito will be astonished at the proportions of the cult of his host, which has reached a level unheard of anywhere else, either in past or present times, let alone in a country which calls itself socialist." {{cite web |url=http://files.osa.ceu.hu/holdings/300/8/3/text/117-1-7.shtml |title=Albanian Leader's 'Reflections on China,' Volume II |access-date=30 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090908153112/http://files.osa.ceu.hu/holdings/300/8/3/text/117-1-7.shtml |archive-date=8 September 2009 |website = CEU.hu }}</ref> He further claimed that "the leadership of the Communist Party of China has betrayed [the working people]. In Korea, too, we can say that the leadership of the Korean Workers' Party is wallowing in the same waters" and claimed that Kim Il Sung was begging for aid from other countries, especially among the Eastern Bloc and [[Non-Aligned Movement|non-aligned]] countries like [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]. As a result, [[Foreign relations of North Korea#Albania|relations between North Korea and Albania]] would remain cold and tense right up until Hoxha's death in 1985. Although a resolute anti-communist, [[Zaire]]'s [[Mobutu Sese Seko]] was also heavily influenced by Kim's style of rule.<ref>Howard W. French, [https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/17/world/with-rebel-gains-and-mobutu-in-france-nation-is-in-effect-without-a-government.html With Rebel Gains and Mobutu in France, Nation Is in Effect Without a Government] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630230338/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/17/world/with-rebel-gains-and-mobutu-in-france-nation-is-in-effect-without-a-government.html |date=30 June 2017 }}, ''The New York Times'' (17 March 1997).</ref> At the same time, Kim was establishing an extensive personality cult. Kim developed the policy and ideology of ''Juche'' in opposition to the idea of North Korea as a [[satellite state]] of China or the Soviet Union. In the 1960s, Kim became impressed with the efforts of [[North Vietnam]]ese Leader [[Ho Chi Minh]] to [[Vietnam War|reunify]] [[Vietnam]] through [[guerrilla warfare]] and thought that something similar might be possible in Korea.<ref name="Lankov2015">{{cite book|last=Lankov|first=Andrei|title=The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-939003-8}}</ref>{{rp|30–31}} Infiltration and subversion efforts were thus greatly stepped up against US forces and the leadership in South Korea.<ref name="Lankov2015"/>{{rp|32–33}} These efforts culminated in an [[Blue House Raid|attempt to storm the Blue House]] and assassinate President [[Park Chung-hee]].<ref name="Lankov2015"/>{{rp|32}} North Korean troops thus took a much more aggressive stance toward US forces in and around South Korea, engaging US Army troops in [[Korean DMZ Conflict (1966–69)|fire-fights along the Demilitarized Zone]]. The 1968 capture of the crew of the spy ship [[USS Pueblo (AGER-2)|USS ''Pueblo'']] was a part of this campaign.<ref name="Lankov2015"/>{{rp|33}} The North Korean government's practice of abducting foreign nationals, such as [[Demographics of South Korea|South Koreans]], [[Japanese people|Japanese]], [[Chinese people|Chinese]], [[Thai people|Thais]], and [[Romanians]], is another practice of Kim Il-Sung which persists to the present day. Kim Il-Sung planned these operations to seize persons who could be used to support North Korea's overseas intelligence operations, or those who had technical skills to maintain the socialist state's economic infrastructure in farms, construction, hospitals, and heavy industry. According to the Korean War Abductees Family Union (KWAFU), those abducted by North Korea after the war included 2,919 civil servants, 1,613 police, 190 judicial officers and lawyers, and 424 medical practitioners. In the [[Korean Air Lines YS-11 hijacking|hijacking and seizure of Korean Airlines flight YS-11 in 1969]] by North Korean agents, the pilots and mechanics, and others with specialized skills, were the only ones never permitted to return to South Korea. The total number of foreign abductees and disappeared is still unknown, but is estimated to include more than 200,000 people. The vast majority of disappearances occurred or were linked to the Korean War, but hundreds of South Koreans and Japanese people were abducted during the 1960s and 1980s. A number of South Koreans and nationals of the People's Republic of China have also been apparently abducted in the 2000s and 2010s. At least 100,000 people remain disappeared.<ref name=Kim-IlSungLegacy /> A new constitution was proclaimed in December 1972, which created an [[President of North Korea|executive presidency]]. Kim gave up the premiership and was [[1972 North Korean parliamentary election|elected president]]. On 14 April 1975, North Korea discontinued most formal use of [[Korean units|its traditional units]] and [[Metrication|adopted]] the [[metric system]].<ref>{{citation|ref={{harvid|APLMF|2015}} |contribution=DPR Korea |contribution-url=http://www.aplmf.org/dpr-korea.html |title=Official site |url=http://www.aplmf.org |publisher=Asia–Pacific Legal Metrology Forum |date=2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170209124429/http://www.aplmf.org/ |archive-date=9 February 2017 }}.</ref> In 1980, he decided that his son [[Kim Jong-il]] would succeed him, and increasingly delegated the running of the government to him. The [[Kim dynasty (North Korea)|Kim family]] was supported by the [[Korean People's Army|army]], due to Kim Il-sung's revolutionary record and the support of the veteran defense minister, [[O Chin-u]]. At the [[6th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea|Sixth Party Congress]] in October 1980, Kim publicly designated his son as his successor. In 1986, a rumor spread that Kim had been assassinated, making the concern for Jong-il's ability to succeed his father actual. Kim dispelled the rumors, however, by making a series of public appearances. It has been argued, however, that the incident helped establish the order of succession—the first patrifilial in a communist state—which eventually would occur upon Kim Il-Sung's death in 1994.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/17/world/kim-il-sung-at-74-is-reported-dead.html?pagewanted=all |title=Kim Il Sung, at 74, Is Reported Dead |access-date=19 March 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319200122/http://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/17/world/kim-il-sung-at-74-is-reported-dead.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=19 March 2017 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=17 November 1986 |last1=Haberman |first1=Clyde |last2=Times |first2=Special to The New York }}</ref> From about this time, North Korea encountered increasing economic difficulties. South Korea became an economic powerhouse fueled by Japanese and American investment, military aid, and internal economic development, while North Korea [[Economic stagnation|stagnated]] and then [[Economic collapse|declined]] in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite book|title=Korea|last=Bluth|first=Christoph|publisher=Polity Press|year=2008|isbn=978-07456-3357-2|location=Cambridge|page=34}}</ref><ref>[https://www.britannica.com/place/North-Korea/From-1970-to-the-death-of-Kim-Il-Sung North Korea - From 1970 to the death of Kim Il-Sung] on [[Encyclopædia Britannica]].</ref> The practical effect of ''Juche'' was to cut the country off from virtually all foreign trade in order to make it entirely [[Autarky|self-reliant]]. The [[Chinese economic reform|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 [[Revolutions of 1989]] in [[Eastern Europe]] and the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|Soviet Union]], from 1989–1992, completed North Korea's virtual isolation. These events led to mounting economic difficulties because Kim refused to issue any economic or political reforms.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.osaarchivum.org/files/holdings/300/8/3/text/37-8-310.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310010727/http://osaarchivum.org/files/holdings/300/8/3/text/37-8-310.shtml|url-status=dead|title=North Korea and Eastern Europe|archive-date=10 March 2016}}</ref> [[File:KimIlSungCalciumDeposit1970.png|thumb|Kim Il Sung's calcium deposit tumor is noticeable on the back of his head in this rare newsreel still image during a diplomatic meeting between him and Chinese Communist Party Chairman [[Mao Zedong]] in Beijing, 1970.]] As he aged, starting in the 1970s, Kim developed a [[Calcinosis|calcium deposit]] growth on the right side of the back of his neck. It was long believed that its close proximity to his brain and spinal cord made it inoperable. However, Juan Reynaldo Sanchez, a defected bodyguard for [[Fidel Castro]] who met Kim in 1986 wrote later that it was Kim's own paranoia that prevented it from being operated on. <ref>Juan Reinaldo Sanchez, ''The Double Life of Fidel Castro: My 17 Years as Personal Bodyguard to El Lider Maximo'', [[Penguin Press]] (2014) p. 234.</ref> Because of its unappealing nature, North Korean reporters and photographers were required to photograph Kim while standing slightly to his left in order to hide the growth from official photographs and newsreels. Hiding the growth became increasingly difficult as the growth reached the size of a [[Baseball (ball)|baseball]] by the late 1980s.<ref name=Cumings2003>{{cite book|last=Cumings|first=Bruce|title=North Korea: Another Country|url=https://archive.org/details/northkoreaanothe00cumi|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/northkoreaanothe00cumi/page/115 115]|year=2003|publisher=New Press|location=New York|isbn=978-1-56584-940-2}}</ref>{{rp|xii}} [[File:80th Anniversary Kim Il-Sung.jpg|300px|thumb|Kim Il-sung's 80th birthday ceremony with international guests, April 1992]] To ensure a full succession of leadership to his son and designated successor Kim Jong-il, Kim turned over his chairmanship of North Korea's [[National Defence Commission|National Defense Commission]]—the body mainly responsible for control of the armed forces as well as the supreme commandership of the country's now million-man strong military force, the Korean People's Army—to his son in 1991 and 1993. So far, the elder Kim—even though he is dead—has remained the country's president, the general-secretary of its ruling Workers' Party of Korea, and the chairman of the [[Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea|Party's Central Military Commission]], the party's organization that has supreme supervision and authority over military matters. 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 nuclear facility|Yongbyon]]. Despite repeated chiding from Western nations, Kim continued to conduct [[North Korean nuclear program|nuclear research]] and carry on with the uranium enrichment program. In June 1994, former [[President of the United States|US president]] [[Jimmy Carter]] travelled to Pyongyang in an effort to persuade Kim to negotiate with the [[Presidency of Bill Clinton|Clinton Administration]] over its nuclear program.<ref>{{cite web| last=Blakemore| first=Erin| title=Bill Clinton Once Struck a Nuclear Deal With North Korea| website=history.com| url=https://www.history.com/news/north-korea-nuclear-deal-bill-clinton-agreed-framework| date=1 September 2018| publisher=A&E Television Networks| access-date=3 July 2019}}</ref> To the astonishment of the United States and the [[International Atomic Energy Agency]], Kim agreed to halt his nuclear research program and seemed to be embarking upon a new opening to the West.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/dprkchron|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422115356/http://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/dprkchron|url-status=dead|title=Chronology of U.S.-North Korean Nuclear and Missile Diplomacy &#124; Arms Control Association|archive-date=22 April 2012|website=www.armscontrol.org}}</ref> === Death === {{Main|Death and state funeral of Kim Il-sung}} On the late morning of 8 July 1994, Kim Il-sung collapsed from a sudden [[Myocardial infarction|heart attack]] at his residence in [[Hyangsan County|Hyangsan]], [[North Pyongan Province|North Pyongan]]. After the heart attack, Kim Jong-il ordered the team of doctors who were constantly at his father's side to leave, and arranged for the country's best doctors to be flown in from Pyongyang. After several hours, the doctors from Pyongyang arrived, but despite their efforts to save him, Kim Il-sung died later that day at the age of 82. After the traditional [[Confucianism|Confucian]] Mourning period, his death was declared thirty hours later.<ref>[[Barbara Demick|Demick, Barbara]]: ''Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea''.</ref> Kim Il-sung's death resulted in nationwide mourning and a ten-day mourning period was declared by Kim Jong-il. His funeral was on July 17, 1994 in Pyongyang and was attended by hundreds of thousands of people who were flown into the city from all over North Korea. Kim Il-sung's body was placed in a public [[mausoleum]] at the [[Kumsusan Palace of the Sun]], where his preserved and embalmed body lies under a glass coffin for viewing purposes. His head rests on a traditional Korean pillow and he is covered by the flag of the Workers' Party of Korea. Newsreel video of the funeral at Pyongyang was broadcast on several networks, and can now be found on various websites.<ref>{{YouTube|5zYsUqAYg6c|''Scenes of lamentation after Kim Il-sung’s death''}}</ref> == Personal life == {{see also|Kim dynasty (North Korea)}} [[File:Kim Jong-suk and Kim Jong-il.jpg|thumb|upright|Kim's first wife, Kim Jŏng Suk, and his son, [[Kim Jong-il]]]] Kim Il-sung married twice. His first wife, [[Kim Jong-suk]] (1917–1949), gave birth to two sons and one daughter before her death in childbirth during the delivery of a stillborn girl. [[Kim Jong-il]] was his oldest son. The other son ([[Kim Man-il]], or Shaura Kim) of this marriage died in 1947 in a swimming accident. A daughter, [[Kim Kyong-hui]], was born in 1946. Kim married [[Kim Song-ae]] (1924–2014) in 1952, and it is believed that he had three children with her: Kim Yŏng-il (not to be confused with the [[Kim Yong-il|former Premier of North Korea]] with the same name), Kim Kyŏng-il, and [[Kim Pyong-il]]. Kim Pyong-il was prominent in Korean politics until he became ambassador to [[Hungary]]. In 2015, Kim Pyong-il became ambassador to the [[Czech Republic]], but officially retired in 2019 and resides once again in North Korea. Kim was reported to have had other children with women who he was not married to.<ref>{{cite book|last=Saxonberg |first=Steven |title=Transitions and Non-Transitions from Communism: Regime Survival in China, Cuba, North Korea, and Vietnam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zQw-RWxrPSUC&pg=PA123 |date=14 February 2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-02388-8 |page=123 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518165953/https://books.google.com/books?id=zQw-RWxrPSUC&pg=PA123 |archive-date=18 May 2016 }}</ref> They included Kim Hyŏn-nam (born 1972, head of the [[Propaganda and Agitation Department]] of the Workers' Party since 2002).<ref>{{Cite web| title = After Kim Jong Il| last=Henry|first=Terrence | work = [[The Atlantic]]| date = 1 May 2005| access-date = 1 October 2014| url = https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/05/after-kim-jong-il/303899/?single_page=true}}</ref> == Awards == {{Main|Awards and decorations received by Kim Il-sung}} According to North Korean sources, Kim Il-sung had received 230 foreign orders, medals and titles from 70 countries since the 1940s until, and after, his death.<ref>{{cite book|translator1=Kim Yong-nam|translator2=Kim Kyong-il|translator3=Kim Jong-shm|editor1=Jo Am|editor2=An Chol-gang|title=Korea in the 20th Century: 100 Significant Events|year=2002|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House|location=Pyongyang|oclc=276996886|page=162|chapter=The Foreign Orders and Honorary Titles Awarded to President Kim Il Sung}}</ref> They include: The Soviet [[Order of the Red Banner]] and the [[Order of Lenin]] (twice),<ref>{{cite book|last=Westad|first=Odd Arne|title=The Cold War: A World History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gMpXDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT190|year=2017|publisher=Basic Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-465-09313-7|page=190}}</ref><ref name=Bowker/> [[Order of the Republic of Indonesia]] (first class), the Bulgarian [[Order of Georgi Dimitrov]] (twice), the Togolese [[Order of Mono]] (Grand Cross), the [[Order of the Yugoslav Star]] (Great Star),<ref>{{Cite book|last=Acović|first=Dragomir|title=Slava i čast: Odlikovanja među Srbima, Srbi među odlikovanjima|year=2012|location=Belgrade|publisher=Službeni Glasnik|pages=605}}</ref> the Cuban [[Order of José Martí]] (twice), the East German [[Order of Karl Marx]] (twice), [[Order of the Republic of Malta]], the Burkinabe [[Order of the Gold Star of Nahouri]], [[Order of the Grand Star of Honour of Socialist Ethiopia]], the Nicaraguan {{ill|Augusto Cesar Sandino Order|es|Orden Augusto César Sandino}}, the Vietnamese [[Gold Star Order (Vietnam)|Gold Star Order]],<ref name=Bowker/> the Czechoslovak [[Order of Klement Gottwald]],<ref>{{Cite web | title = Řád Klementa Gottwalda: za budování socialistické vlasti | publisher = Archiv Kanceláře Prezidenta Republiky | date = 17 January 2015 | access-date = 21 June 2018 | url = http://www.prazskyhradarchiv.cz/archivKPR/upload/rkg.pdf#page=11 | page = 11 | language = cs | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160822183204/http://www.prazskyhradarchiv.cz/archivKPR/upload/rkg.pdf#page=11 | archive-date = 22 August 2016 | url-status = dead }}</ref> the [[Royal Order of Cambodia]] (Grand Cross),<ref>{{cite book|title=News from Hsinhua News Agency: Daily Bulletin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pqIcAQAAMAAJ|date=1 October 1965|publisher=Xin hua tong xun she|location=London|oclc=300956682|page=53}}</ref> the Malagasy [[Grand National Cross]] (first class),<ref>{{cite book|title=Summary of World Broadcasts: Far East, Part 3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q2jVAAAAMAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Monitoring Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation|location=Reading|oclc=976978783}}</ref> the Mongolian [[Order of Sukhbaatar]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Sanders|first=Alan J. K.|title=Historical Dictionary of Mongolia|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5JN83EDDLl4C&pg=PA551|edition=Third|year=2010|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Lanham|isbn=978-0-8108-7452-7|page=551|chapter=Orders and medals}}</ref> and the Romanian orders of {{ill|Order of Victory of Socialism|nl|Orde van de Overwinning van het Socialisme}} and [[Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic]] (first class with band).<ref name=Bowker>{{cite book|title=Who's Who in Asian and Australasian Politics|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge25AAAAIAAJ|year=1991|publisher=Bowker-Saur|location=London|isbn=978-0-86291-593-3|page=146|chapter=Kim Il Sung}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|journal=Korea Today|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F1xDAAAAYAAJ|issue=304–315|year=1982|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House|location=Pyongyang|issn=0454-4072|page=58|title=Gifts of World People}}</ref> == Legacy == {{Further|Kim Il-sung's cult of personality}} [[File:Pyongyang Mural.jpg|thumb|right|A mural in [[Pyongyang]] of a young Kim Il-sung giving a speech]] [[File:Mansudae Grand Monument 08.JPG|thumb|[[Mansu Hill Grand Monument|The Mansudae Grand Monuments]], depicting large bronze statues of Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il.]] There are over 500 statues of Kim Il-sung in North Korea, similar to the many statues and monuments that Eastern Bloc leaders put up in honor of themselves.<ref name=portal>{{cite book|last=Portal|first=Jane|author2=British Museum |title=Art under control in North Korea|publisher=Reaktion Books|year=2005|page=82|isbn=978-1-86189-236-2}}</ref> The most prominent are at [[Kim Il-sung University]], [[Kim Il-sung Stadium]], [[Mansu Hill Grand Monument|Mansudae Hill]], Kim Il-sung Bridge and the Immortal Statue of Kim Il-sung. Some statues have reportedly been destroyed by explosions or damaged with graffiti by North Korean dissidents.<ref name="Rogue"/>{{rp|201}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/02/13/2012021301372.html |title=The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea - N.Korean Dynasty's Authority Challenged |publisher=English.chosun.com |date=13 February 2012 |access-date=9 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929195034/http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/02/13/2012021301372.html |archive-date=29 September 2012 }}</ref> ''Yŏng Saeng'' ("eternal life") monuments have been erected throughout the country, each dedicated to the departed "Eternal Leader".<ref name="Controversy Stirs over Kim Monument at PUST (NK Daily)">[http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01500&num=6222 "Controversy Stirs Over Kim Monument at PUST" NK Daily.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412062252/http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01500&num=6222 |date=12 April 2010 }}. Retrieved 24 April 2010.</ref> Kim Il-sung's image, especially his posthumous portrait released in 1994, is prominent in places associated with public transportation, which hangs at every North Korean train station and airport.<ref name=portal/> It is also placed prominently at the border crossings between China and North Korea.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} Thousands of gifts to Kim Il-sung from foreign leaders are housed in the [[International Friendship Exhibition]].<ref name="age">{{cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/travel/north-korean-shows-off-leaders-gifts/2006/12/21/1166290663252.html|title=North Korean museum shows off leaders' gifts|agency=Reuters|date=21 December 2006|work=[[The Age]]}}</ref> [[File:Kim Il Sung Portrait-3.jpg|thumb|Official portrait of Kim Il Sung, often seen in public places]] Kim Il-sung's birthday, "[[Day of the Sun]]", is celebrated every year as a [[public holidays in North Korea|public holiday in North Korea]].<ref name="ency_Birt">{{Cite book| title = Birthday of Kim Il-sung| publisher = Omnigraphics| via = TheFreeDictionary.com| work = Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary| edition = Fourth| date = 2010| access-date = 3 May 2015| url = http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Birthday+of+Kim+Il-Sung}}</ref> The associated April Spring Friendship Art Festival gathers hundreds of artists from all over the world.<ref name="dail_Spri">{{Cite web|title=Spring Art Festival Off the Schedule |author=Choi Song Min |work=DailyNK |date=16 April 2013 |access-date=3 May 2015 |url=http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01500&num=10491 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150313051634/http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01500&num=10491 |archive-date=13 March 2015 }}</ref> ==Works== {{main|Kim Il-sung bibliography}} Kim Il-sung was the author of many works. According to North Korean sources, these amount to approximately 10,800 speeches, reports, books, treatises, and others.<ref name="Nae">{{cite web |title = Immortal classical works written by President Kim Il Sung |website = [[Naenara]] |date = May 2008 |access-date = 16 January 2015 |url = http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/juche/great.php?great+1+1-06#contents }}</ref> Some, such as the 100-volume ''Complete Collection of Kim Il-sung's Works'' ({{lang|ko|김일성전집}}), are published by the [[Workers' Party of Korea]] Publishing House.<ref name="kcna_">{{Cite web|title="Complete Collection of Kim Il Sung's Works" Off Press |work=[[Korean Central News Agency|KCNA]] |date=18 January 2012 |access-date=16 January 2015 |url = http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2012/201201/news18/20120118-12ee.html |url-status=live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141012083449/http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2012/201201/news18/20120118-12ee.html |archive-date=12 October 2014 }}</ref> Shortly before his death, he published an eight-volume autobiography, ''[[With the Century]]''.<ref name="Armstrong2013" />{{rp|26}} According to official North Korean sources, Kim Il-sung was the original writer of many plays and operas.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Kaminskij|editor-first1=Konstantin|editor-last2=Koschorke|editor-first2=Albrecht|author=Suk-Yong Kim|title=Tyrants Writing Poetry|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e3NKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA159|year=2018|publisher=Central European University Press|location=Budapest|isbn=978-963-386-202-5|chapter=Dead Father's Living Body: Kim Il-sung's Seed Theory and North Korean Arts|page=159}}</ref> One of these, ''[[The Flower Girl]]'', a revolutionary theatrical opera, was adapted into a locally produced feature film in 1972.<ref name=chosun>{{cite web |url=http://nk.chosun.com/culture/culture.html?ACT=opera03 |script-title=ko:가극 작품 |language=ko |website=NK Chosun |title=Archived copy |access-date=24 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051201002024/http://nk.chosun.com/culture/culture.html?ACT=opera03 |archive-date=1 December 2005 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=yulesohu>{{cite web |date=26 March 2008 |url=http://yule.sohu.com/20080326/n255919204.shtml |script-title=zh:金日成原创《卖花姑娘》5月上海唱响《卖花歌》 |website=[[Sohu]] Entertainment |language=zh-cn |title=Archived copy |access-date=24 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501000608/http://yule.sohu.com/20080326/n255919204.shtml |archive-date=1 May 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Kim1994" />{{rp|178}} == See also == {{Portal|Biography|North Korea|Socialism}} *[[Kimilsungia]] *[[Kim Tu-bong]] *[[Residences of North Korean leaders]] *"[[Song of General Kim Il-sung]]" *[[List of things named after Kim Il-sung]] *[[Korean independence movement]] *[[Kim (Korean surname)#Jeonju|Jeongju Gim (Kim)]] {{clear}} == Notes == {{notelist}} == References == {{Reflist}} == Further reading == * [[Baik Bong]], "From Birth to Triumphant Return to Homeland," "From Building Democratic Korea to Chollima Flight," and "From Independent National Economy to 10-Point Political Programme". * Blair, Clay, ''The Forgotten War: America in Korea'', Naval Institute Press (2003). * [[Christian Kracht|Kracht, Christian]], ''[[The Ministry of Truth (Kracht book)|The Ministry Of Truth: Kim Jong Il's North Korea]]'', [[Feral House]], October 2007, 132 pages, 88 color photographs, {{ISBN|978-1-932595-27-7}}. * Lee Chong-sik. "Kim Il-Song of North Korea." ''[[Asian Survey]]''. [[University of California Press]]. Vol. 7, No. 6, June 1967. DOI 10.2307/2642612. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2642612 Available at] [[Jstor]]. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110605122452/http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=230972&fuseaction=topics.publications&doc_id=474527&group_id=474507 NKIDP: Crisis and Confrontation on the Korean Peninsula: 1968–1969, A Critical Oral History] * 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). * Szalontai, Balázs, ''Kim Il Sung in the Khrushchev Era: Soviet-DPRK Relations and the Roots of North Korean Despotism, 1953-1964''. Stanford: Stanford University Press; Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press (2005). == External links == {{Wikiquote}} {{Commons category}} * {{Britannica|317881|Kim Il-Sung}} * [http://www.wimp.com/ceausescus-visit-to-pyongyang-north-korea-in-1971/ Nicolae Ceausescu's visit to Pyongyang, North Korea, in 1971] * [https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/collection/138/conversations-with-kim-il-sung "Conversations with Kim Il Sung"] at the Wilson Center Digital Archive * {{Curlie|Regional/Asia/North_Korea/Society_and_Culture/History/Kim_Il_Sung}} {{-}} {{s-start}} {{s-gov}} {{s-new}} {{s-ttl | title = [[Premier of North Korea]] | years = 1948–1972 }} {{s-aft | after = [[Kim Il (politician)|Kim Il]] }} |- {{s-bef | before = [[Choe Yong-gon (army commander)|Choe Yong-gon]] | as = [[Supreme People's Assembly|President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly]] }} {{s-ttl | title = [[List of heads of state of North Korea|President of North Korea]]<br /><small>(Eternal President since 5 September 1998)</small> | years = 1972–1994 }} {{s-aft | after = [[Yang Hyong-sop]] | as = [[Supreme People's Assembly|Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly]] }} |- {{s-new}} {{s-ttl | title = [[Chairman of the National Defence Commission]] | years = 1972–1993 }} {{s-aft | after = [[Kim Jong-il]] }} |- {{s-ppo}} {{s-new | rows = 4 }} {{s-ttl | title = [[Chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea]] | years = 1949–1966 }} {{s-non | reason = Himself as General Secretary }} |- {{s-ttl | title = Chairman of the [[Organization and Guidance Department of the Workers' Party of Korea|WPK Organization Bureau]] | years = 1949–1951 }} {{s-aft | after = [[Pak Yong-bin]] }} |- {{s-ttl | title = [[Central Military Commission (DPRK)|Chairman of the WPK Central Military Commission]] | years = 1950–1994 }} {{s-vac|next=[[Kim Jong-il]]|rows=2}} |- {{s-ttl | title = [[General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea]] | years = 1966–1994 }} |- {{s-mil}} {{s-bef | before = [[Choe Yong-gon (army commander)|Choe Yong-gon]] }} {{s-ttl | title = [[Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army]] | years = 1950–1991 }} {{s-aft | after = [[Kim Jong-il]] }} |- {{s-end}} {{Kim Il-sung}} {{Navboxes |titlestyle = background:#FFCB99; |list1 = {{NKSupremeLeaders}} {{WPKHeads}} {{NKPres}} {{NKPMs}} {{Leaders of Korea}} {{Cold War}} {{Kim dynasty (North Korea)}} {{Commanders of the Korean People's Army}} {{North Korean marshals}} }} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Il-sung}} [[Category:Kim Il-sung| ]] [[Category:1912 births]] [[Category:1994 deaths]] [[Category:Anti-capitalists]] [[Category:Anti-fascists]] [[Category:Anti-imperialism]] [[Category:Anti-Japanese sentiment in North Korea]] [[Category:Anti-revisionists]] [[Category:Anti-Americanism]] [[Category:Communist rulers]] [[Category:Former Presbyterians]] [[Category:Generalissimos]] [[Category:Heads of state of North Korea]] [[Category:Korean communists]] [[Category:Korean expatriates in the Soviet Union]] [[Category:Korean independence activists]] [[Category:Korean nationalists]] [[Category:Korean revolutionaries]] [[Category:Leaders of political parties in North Korea|Kim Il-sung]] [[Category:North Korean atheists]] [[Category:North Korean communists]] [[Category:North Korean people of the Korean War]] [[Category:North Korean writers]] [[Category:People from Pyongyang]] [[Category:Prime Ministers of North Korea]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of Karl Marx]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of Sukhbaatar]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic]] [[Category:National Heroes of North Korea]] [[Category:Soviet military personnel of World War II]] [[Category:Stalinism]] [[Category:Totalitarian rulers]] [[Category:Chairmen and General Secretaries of the Workers' Party of Korea]] [[Category:World War II resistance members]] [[Category:20th-century North Korean writers]] [[Category:People who died in office]] [[Category:People of the Cold War]]'