Asian & Middle Eastern Monarchs & Strongmen Codexery

Kim Il-sung

Founder and eternal leader of North Korea.

Last updated

Kim Il-sung

David Clayton Ellsworth · CC BY-SA 4.0

Kim Sung Ju, born on 15 April 1912 near Pyongyang, was the son of Kim Hyong-jik and Kang Pan Sok.[1][2] North Korea's standard of living was marginally above South Korea's during the 1960s, but by the 1970s the situation had flipped as the South's economy expanded while the North's economy stopped growing.[3]

Life and work

Kim's great-grandfather, Kim Ŭngu, moved to Mangyongdae in 1860; the family belonged to the Jeonju Kim clan, which traces its origin to Jeonju, North Jeolla Province.[2] Kim stated that his upbringing was in a devout Presbyterian Christian household, and that his mother's father served as a Protestant minister.[4] In 1931 Kim became a member of the Chinese Communist Party, and four years later, in 1935, he adopted the name Kim Il Sung, which translates to "Kim become the sun."[5][6] A raid on Poch'onbo in June 1937, led by Kim, saw the destruction of government offices and a Japanese police station.[7]

Kim created the Korean People's Army, and before his 1950 invasion of the South, Stalin supplied that army with modern Soviet-built tanks and aircraft.[8][9]

What the cited sources add

A 2014 Daily NK article notes that a photo of Kim Il Sung was taken during a demonstration hailing the Red Army on October 14, 1945, and another photo shows him at Mangyongdae.[10] A 2010 book review in The Independent states that Kim Il Sung was a Protestant and an accomplished church organist.[11]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Kim Il Sung" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Kim Il Sung Reminiscences", Naenara; Yŏng-ho Ch'oe. "Christian Background in the Early Life of Kim Il-Song." Asian Survey 26, no. 10 (1986): 1082–1091.; "Encyclopaedia Britannica Kim il-sung", encyclopaedia Britannica.com, 3 January 2022 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Kim Il Sung" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Tertitskiy 2025, p. 8; "Soviet Officer Reveals Secrets of Mangyongdae", Daily NK, 2 January 2014; Baik Bong 1973, p. 12; Andrei Lankov, "The DPRK yesterday and today. Informal history of North Korea", Восток-Запад (English: East-West), 2004, p. 73; Tertitskiy 2025, p. 8 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Kim Il Sung" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kim, "The great divergence on the Korean peninsula (1910–2020)", Australian Economic History Review, November 2021, p. 318–341 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Kim Il Sung" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kimjongilia – The Movie – Learn More; Byrnes, "The Rage Against God, By Peter Hitchens", The Independent, 7 May 2010 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Kim Il Sung" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kim Il-Sung, "On Waging Armed Struggle Against Japanese Imperialism" on 16 December 1931 contained in On Juche in Our Revolution, pp. 17–20. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Kim Il Sung" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Suh 1988, p. 3; Martin 2004, p. 30; Coogan, "Northeast China and the Origins of the Anti-Japanese United Front", Modern China, July 1994, p. 282–314 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Kim Il Sung" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Kim Il Sung" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Defense" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Kim Il Sung" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Blair, Clay, The Forgotten War: America in Korea, Naval Institute Press (2003). (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. "Soviet Officer Reveals Secrets of Mangyongdae", Daily NK, 2 January 2014. facts only, no text reused. dailynk.com
  11. Byrnes, "The Rage Against God, By Peter Hitchens", The Independent, 7 May 2010. facts only, no text reused. independent.co.uk

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Kim Il Sung (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Also in the Codexery

Kim Il Sung · Leaders And Monarchs

More in Asian & Middle Eastern Monarchs & Strongmen

Faisal of Saudi ArabiaGyanendra of NepalHamad bin Isa Al KhalifaHamad bin Khalifa Al ThaniHamid KarzaiHassan NasrallahHassan RouhaniHibatullah AkhundzadaIlham AliyevIsa bin Salman Al KhalifaJalal TalabaniJang Song-thaek

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…
Open in the interactive codex →