Kim Il Sung

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Kim Il Sung (b. 15 Apr. 1912, d. 8 July 1994). Premier of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) 1948–72; President 1972–94 Born of peasant stock near Pyongyang with the name Kim Song-ju. He formed a local Marxist Young Communists' League in 1927, and was expelled from school for his political activities in 1929. He joined the Communist Party in 1931. He emigrated to Manchuria (Manchukuo) in 1932, where he became a leader of the North-East Anti-Japanese United Army, under the direction of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1941, Japanese military advances forced him to leave for the Soviet Union, where he fought with the Red Army. Together with the Soviet army, in which he had risen to the rank of major, he led his partisan Korean People's Revolutionary Army into Korea in the dying days of World War II, after the Soviet declaration of war against Japan on 8 August 1945. A consistent advocate of a united Korea, he nevertheless lost little time in consolidating his own power base in the Soviet-occupied northern half of Korea. He established a North Korean Interim People's Committee, which set about radical land reform, expropriating landowners and nationalizing industry. At the same time the North Korean Workers' Party was formed, with Kim as chairman.

He was declared Premier upon North Korean independence on 9 September 1948, which also marked the withdrawal of Soviet troops. However, this did not end his aspirations for Korean unity. As Commander-in-Chief of the Korean People's Army, now reinforced by Korean units returning from the Chinese Civil War, he launched an invasion of South Korea in 1950, thus precipitating the Korean War. He succeeded in using the war's disadvantageous outcome to clamp down on his internal enemies, whom he blamed for the war. In addition, he encouraged his own personality cult among his people, acquiring the status of a semi-god over the decades. So complete was his control that from the 1970s he tried to ensure a dynastic succession after his death through his son, Kim Jong Il, the latter's shortcomings notwithstanding. Kim Il Sung continued to pay lip-service to the ideal of Korean reunification, and even authorized talks between the two countries in the late 1980s. His death caused unparalleled mass hysteria among his people. Having embodied the regime and the country's political system during his long lifetime, he remained a crucial reference point for the country's raison d'être, in separation from South Korea, after his death.

Kim Il Sung , 1912–94, North Korean political leader, chief of state of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (1948–94); originally named Kim Sung Chu. While fighting Japanese occupation forces in the 1930s, he adopted the name Kim Il Sung after a famous Korean guerrilla leader of the early 20th cent. He was trained in Moscow before World War II, and in 1945 he became chairman of the Soviet-sponsored People's Committee of North Korea (later the Korean Workers' party). In 1948, when the People's Republic was established, he became its first premier. Between 1950 and 1953 he led his nation in the Korean War . In 1972 the "Great Leader" relinquished the premiership but retained his position as North Korea's leader by assuming the presidency under a revised constitution. Under his rule, North Korea increased its military forces, embarked on a program of industrialization, and maintained close relations with both China and the Soviet Union.

His son, Kim Jong Il , 1941?–2011, was groomed as his successor. Active in the Korean Workers' party leadership from 1964, Kim Jong Il became secretary of its central committee in 1973. In 1991 he was appointed supreme commander of the armed forces. Upon his father's death, Kim Jong Il took over leadership of the country. He was named secretary of the Communist party in 1997 and consolidated his power with the title of National Defense Commission chairman in 1998. Although Kim established relations with a number of Western nations, easing the North's diplomatic isolation, and hosted meetings with South Korean presidents Kim Dae Jung (2000) and Roh Moo Hyun (2007), he did not reciprocate with a visit to the South, and the North developed nuclear weapons and provoked international crises to win desperately needed food and other aid.

In 2010, due to ill health, the "Dear Leader" moved to secure the succession for his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, 1984?–, whose name is sometimes transliterated Kim Jong Eun. He attended school in Switzerland and Kim Il Sung Military Univ. (2002–7), but was largely unseen in public until 2009, when he was named to the National Defense Council and appointed chief of the State Security Dept. In 2010 he was promoted to four-star general and shortly afterward named to the Workers' party central committee and became vice chairman of its central military commission. He was named to succeed his father when the latter died in 2011.

Kim Il Sung (1912–94) Korean statesman, first premier of North Korea (1948–72) and president (1972–94). He joined the Korean Communist Party in 1931, and led a Korean unit in the Soviet Army during World War II. In 1950, Kim led a North Korean invasion of South Korea, precipitating the Korean War (1950–53). Chairman of the Korean Workers' Party from 1948, Kim Il Sung suppressed all opposition and pursued communist policies. His son, Kim Jong Il, succeeded him.