Kim Il-Sung


Kim Il Sung
김일성
Official Portrait, 1950
Supreme Leader of North Korea
In office
9 September 1948 – 8 July 1994
Head of State: 15 August 1945 - 8 September 1948
Preceded byOffice established; Nobuyuki Abe as Governor-General of Korea
Succeeded byKim Jong-il
President of North Korea
In office
28 December 1972 – 8 July 1994
Preceded byOffice established
Choi Yong-kun, Head of State as President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly
Succeeded byOffice abolished
(Proclaimed Eternal President of the Republic after his death)
Prime Minister of North Korea
In office
9 September 1948 – 28 December 1972
Preceded byOffice created
Succeeded byKim Il (Premier)
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea
In office
11 October 1966 – 8 July 1994
Preceded byHimself as Chairman
Succeeded byKim Jong-il
Chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers Party of Korea
In office
30 June 1949 – 11 October 1966
Preceded byKim Tu-bong
Succeeded byHimself as General Secretary
Vice-Chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of North Korea
In office
28 August 1946 – 30 June 1949
ChairmanKim Tu-bong
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Chairman of the North Korea Bureau of the Communist Party of Korea
In office
17 December 1945 – 28 August 1946
General SecretaryPak Hon-yong
Preceded byKim Yong-bom
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Personal details
Born
Kim Song-ju

(1912-04-15)15 April 1912
Mangyŏngdae, Heian-nandō, Japanese Korea
Died8 July 1994(1994-07-08) (aged 82)
Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Resting placeKumsusan Palace of the Sun, Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea
NationalityNorth Korean
Political partyWorkers’ Party of Korea
Spouse(s)
(m. 1940; died 1949)
(m. 1952)
Children
Parents
RelativesKim family
ResidencePyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea
OccupationEternal President of the Republic
ProfessionPresident of North Korea
Signature
Military service
Allegiance
Branch/service
Years of service
  • 1941–1945
  • 1948–1994
RankDae wonsu (Grand Marshal)
CommandsAll (supreme commander)
Battles/wars

Kim Il Sung (Hangul: 김일성; Hanja: 金日成, Kim Il Sŏng; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was the first leader of North Korea from 1948 until his death in 1994. His birth name was "Kim Song-ju". Kim created the Juche political idea. He ran North Korea differently than the Soviet Union and China.

By the late 1950s and during the 1960s and the 1970s, the North Korean economy preformed quite well and that many North Koreans enjoyed a higher standard of living than the South Koreans. By the 1980s however, the South started to take over. Despite this however, the North Korean economy still preformed quite well until the Fall of the Soviet Union, North Korea's biggest trading partner in 1991 where the North Korean economy declined and fell far behind the South. Kim died of a heart attack on 8 July 1994. He was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong-il.

Kim Il Sung's name means "one who becomes the sun".[1] There are more than 300 statues of Kim Il Sung in North Korea. [2]

  1. Bradley K. Martin (2004). Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty. Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 0312323220.
  2. Portal, Jane; British Museum (2005). Art under control in North Korea. Reaktion Books. p. 82. ISBN 978-1861892362.

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