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Today on the Korean Atlas and History: Korean Leaders. 김일성.

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김일성 was the leader of North Korea from its establishment in 1948, until his

death in 1994. Most of what we know about 김일성 is what he has told us. Much of what

follows comes from Kim as the primary source. He was born on April 15th, 1912, to parents

김형직 and 강반석. His birth name was Kim Song Ju. He had two younger brothers, Kim

Chul-Ju and 김영주. He was born in the small village of Nami, which is now present day

만경대구역, was district of Pyongyang. Kim has told others that he grew up just a step away

from poverty. He was raised Presbyterian, and his grandfather was a Protestant minister. His

family resented the Japanese occupation, which had begun in 1910. Due to this resentment,

they participated in anti-Japanese activities, and had to flee Korea to Manchuria in 1920.

Some scholars speculate that Kim’s family truly fled at this time to escape famine.

In October, 1926, Kim founded the 타도제국주의동맹, or the Down-with-Imperialism

Union. At this time, he attended Whasung Military Academy. However, Kim found the

academy’s training methods outdated, so he quit and moved to Yuwen Middle School until

around 1929. It was around this time that he began rejecting the feudal traditions of older

Koreans in lieu of Communist ideologies. At the age of seventeen, he was the youngest

member of an underground Marxist organization. The Chinese authorities discovered this

group three weeks after it was formed, and jailed Kim for several months, and this period

marks the end of his formal education as well, as he never returned to any form of school.

In 1931, Kim joined the Communist Party of China. He joined various anti-Japanese

guerrilla groups in northern China. At this time, Kim had two nicknames: “Han Byeol” which

means “One Star” and “Kim Il-Sung”, which means “Kim become the sun.” Kim claims that

he didn’t like being called these names at first, but his comrades called him them no matter

how strongly he rebuked them. Then, during a three week stint in prison in 1931, he first

saw his name appear in the press, as “Kim Il Sung.” After this, he began to accept the

nicknames.

In September, the Mukden Incident occurred, which gave the Japanese an excuse to

send armed forces into Manchuria. Resistance in the area continued, and in 1935, Kim

became a member of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army. This was a guerilla group

led by the Communist Party of China. Kim served as political commissar for the 3 rd

detachment of the second division, which consisted of about 160 soldiers. During the time

that Kim occupied this position, he met the chairman of the Political Committee of the

Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, Wei Zhengmin. Wei reported directly to Kang Sheng,

a high-ranking party member close to Mao Zedong. Until his death in 1941, Wei was a

mentor to Kim in the ways of communism.

In 1935, Kim formally took the name Kim Il-Sung. In 1937, he was appointed the

commander of the 6th division, a division which came to be known as “Kim Il-Sung’s

Division.” On June 4th, 1937, Kim’s Division took the small village of Po-Chon-Bo. This event,
known as The Battle of Po-Chon-Bo, began when the sixth division crossed the Amnok River

and arrived at Kon-Jang Hill on June 3rd. Kim fired a shot into the sky, and the battle started.

During the battle, Kim took 4,000 yen and inflicted damages estimated at 16,000 yen. Kim

occupied the town for only a few hours before retreating back to Manchuria. This official

version of the battle, however, does not correspond with some contemporary records. Some

even suggest that the rebels were actually led by a man named 최현. Nonetheless, this battle

made Kim somewhat famous among Chinese guerillas. The Japanese also regarded Kim as

one of the most popular and effective Korean guerilla leaders. North Korean propaganda

would later exploit the Battle of Po-Chon-Bo as a great victory for Korea.

Because of his rising fame, in 1940, the Japanese sent their “Maeda Unit” to hunt

Kim. The Japanese kidnapped a woman named Kim Hye-Sun, who is thought to have been

Kim’s first wife. The Japanese used her as a hostage to make the Korean guerillas surrender.

When the Korean guerillas showed no sign of surrender, she was killed. The Japanese

continued to hunt the guerillas, and by the end of 1940, Kim was the only 1st Army leader

who remained alive. Pursued by Japanese troops, Kim and the remnants of his army escaped

by crossing the Amur River into the Soviet Union. Kim was retrained as a soviet and became

a Major in the Soviet Red Army until the end of World War II.

In 1941, Kim married his first official wife, 김정숙. Kim Jong-Suk was the mother two

sons. Kim Jong-Il, the successor to Kim Il-Sung, was the elder of the two. The other son, Kim

Man-Il, died in 1947 in a swimming accident. Kim Jong Suk died in 1949 during childbirth

while delivering a stillborn girl.

 On August 8th, 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and moved to

Pyongyang. Lavrentiy Beria advised Joseph Stalin that Kim would make a good leader for

these newly Soviet-occupied territories. Thus, on September 19th, 1945, Kim returned to

Korea after 26 years in exile. Kim, at this time, could speak only passable Korean. He had

eight years of formal education, all of which was in Chinese. He required a considerable

amount of coaching for his first speech, which was just three days after his arrival.

In December of 1945, the Soviets made Kim chairman of the North Korean branch of

the Korean communist party. At this time, Kim was the top Korean administrative leader in

the North, subordinate only to General Shtykov of the Soviet Union. In order to solidify

control, Kim established the Korean People’s Army. Using Soviet advisors and equipment,

this army was instructed in infiltration tactics and guerilla warfare. The Korean People’s Army

was also equipped with Soviet trucks, arms, artillery, and medium tanks. Kim also created an

air force with propeller driven fighters, but later moved on to MiG-15s.

In 1946, the country underwent reforms. Over 50% of all arable land was

redistributed, an 8-hour work day was proclaimed, and all heavy industry was to be

nationalized. These reformations help improved the health of the population as well, as he

nationalized healthcare and made it available to all citizens.

In 1948, the United Nations planned to conduct all-Korean elections, yet the Soviets

held elections on their own. Voters were presented with a single list of communist

dominated candidates. On September 9th, 1948, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

was formed, with Kim as the Soviet designated premier. The Communist party of North
Korea was led by Kim Tu-Bong, although Kim retained the real power. On October 12th,

1948, the Soviet Union recognized North Korea as the sovereign government of the entire

peninsula. The communist party merged with the New People’s Part of Korea, and they

formed the Workers’ Party of North Korea, with Kim as vice-chairman. In 1949, the Workers’

Party of North Korea merged with the Workers’ Party of South Korea to become the

Workers’ Party of Korea, with Kim as party chairman. It was around this time that Kim began

promoting his personality cult. Many statues of him appeared, and he began calling himself

“Great Leader.”

In June, 1950, the Korean War broke out. Mainly on Kim’s initiative, the north

marched south in order to reunify Korea under the banner of communism. At the outset of

the war, the North captured Seoul and occupied most of the South except a small area in

the south called the Busan Perimeter. In September, US forces landed in Incheon while at

the same time beginning a combined South Korean-US-UN offensive from the Busan

Perimeter. By October, 1950, UN forces had retaken Seoul and invaded the North to reunify

the country under the South. During this attack, Kim and his government fled north, first to

Sin-Ui-Ju and eventually to Kang-gye. On October 25, 1950, after several warnings to stop

the UN advance, Chinese troops crossed the Yalu River and entered the war as allies of the

Korean People’s Army. UN troops were forced to withdraw and Chinese troops retook

Pyongyang and Seoul in 1951. After a back and forth fight that lasted more than two years,

the armistice line was established as it now stands at the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Over

two and a half million people died in the conflict.

 The Korean war left the North devastated. Kim launched a five year national

economic plan to establish a command economy with all industry owned by the state and

all agriculture collectivized. The economy was focused on heavy industry and arms

production. At this time, he began to consolidate his power over the Korean communist

movement by eliminating rival leaders. Pak Hon-yong, the leader of the Korean communist

party, was purged and executed in 1955. In 1955, Kim gave a speech in which he advocated

the idea of Ju-Che or “self-reliance,” an ideology which North Korea follows to this day.

During the 1956 August Faction Incident, Kim successfully resisted an attempt of the Soviet

Union and China to depose him in favor of Soviet Koreans or the pro-Chinese 연안 faction.

In 1958, the last Chinese troops withdrew from North Korea, which is when the country is

considered to be effectively independent. At this time, Kim also created the 성분 system, in

which all people are divided into three groups: core, wavering, or hostile. This system

decides all aspects of a person’s existence in North Korean society, and persists to this day.

Kim punished real and perceived dissent through public executions and enforced

disappearances. This included not only the dissenters, but their entire extended families as

well.

In 1952, Kim married his second official wife, 김성애. It is believed that he had three

children with her: Kim YOHng-Il, Kim KyOHng-Il, and Kim Pyeong Il. Kim Pyeong Il was

prominent in politics, and has been the ambassador to the Czech Republic since 2015.

By the 1960s, the Soviet Union replaced Khrushchev with Brezhnev, and Kim’s

relations with the Soviets and eastern Europe, while his relationship with Mao became

strained. Kim’s personality cult strengthened and North Koreans were taught that Kim was
the “Sun of the Nation” and that he could do no wrong. His policy of Juche was

strengthened and he rallied against the idea that North Korea was a satellite state of China

or the Soviet Union. Kim was impressed by Ho Chi Minh’s efforts to reunify Viet Nam

through guerilla warfare, and he thought something similar might be possible in Korea.

Infiltration and subversion efforts were stepped up, and the efforts culminated in an attempt

to storm the Blue House and assassinate President Park Chung-Hee. North Korean troops

took a more aggressive stance around the Demilitarized Zone, and in 1968, the spy ship

USS Pueblo was captured as part of this campaign. At this time, Kim also began abducting

foreign nationals, a practice which persists to this day.

In 1972, North Korea proclaimed a new constitution, which proclaimed an executive

presidency. Kim gave up his position as premier and was elected president. In 1980, Kim

announced that his son, Kim Jong-Il, would succeed him. From around the 1980s, because

of the Juche ideology, North Korea faced increasing economic difficulties. From 1979

onward, the economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping in China meant there would be less trade

with North Korea. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 furthered North Korea’s

isolation. Kim refused any economic or political reforms, thus exacerbating the problem.

As he aged, Kim developed a calcium deposit on the right side of the back of his

neck. Its close proximity to his brain and spinal cord made in inoperable. From the start of

the growth on, in order to hide the growth, North Korean reporters and photographers

always filmed him while standing from the same slight left angle. As he aged, Kim turned

over his chairmanship of North Korea’s National Defense Commission to Kim Jong Il. In

1994, Kim began investing in nuclear power to offset energy shortages. In June, 1994, U.S.
President Jimmy Carter travelled to Pyongyang to urge Kim to halt his nuclear research and

uranium enrichment program. To the astonishment of many, Kim agreed to halt his nuclear

research program.

On July 8th, 1994, Kim collapsed from a sudden heart attack. Despite efforts to save

him by the best doctors in North Korea, Kim died at the age of 82. His body was placed in a

clear glass sarcophagus in the public mausoleum at the Kim-Su-San Palace of the Sun,

where it remains preserved to this day. Until now, even though he is dead, Kim remains

North Korea’s president, the general secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, and the

chairman of the Party’s Central Military Commission.

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Thank You for listening to this episode of the Korean Atlas and History. Most

of today’s information was taken from the 나무 Wiki and Wikipedia. All of our

episodes can be found and downloaded from koreanatlasandhistory.com. Thank

you for listening and we’ll see you next time.