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127-583: The North Korean Branch Bureau ( NKBB ) of the Communist Party of Korea (CPK; Korean :  조선공산당북조선분국 ) was established by a CPK conference on 13 October 1945, and was through the merger with New People's Party of Korea replaced by the 1st Central Committee of the Workers' Party of North Korea on 30 August 1946. It changed its name to the Communist Party of North Korea ( Korean :  북조선공산당 ) on 10 April 1946 and became independent of

254-677: A Supreme People's Assembly . The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was proclaimed on 9 September 1948, with Kim as the Soviet-designated premier. On 12 October, the Soviet Union recognized Kim's government as the sovereign government of the entire peninsula, including the south. 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,

381-768: A communist party , the Communist Party of Korea was formed on 17 April 1925. It was established by members of the Tuesday Society (화요회,火曜會), and its Founding Congress was attended by 15 individuals. The congress established a Central Executive Committee with seven members and a three-member Central Inspection Committee. The following day, on 18 April, it convened the first meeting of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) in Kim Chan's home. The meeting delegated work responsibilities among

508-541: A puppet government . In 1935, Kim became a member of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army , a guerrilla group led by the CCP. Kim was appointed the same year to serve as political commissar for the 3rd detachment of the second division, consisting of around 160 soldiers. Here Kim met the man who would become his mentor as a communist, Wei Zhengmin, Kim's immediate superior officer, who at

635-689: A North Korean Branch Bureau (NKBB) under the CPK. Pak Hon-yong conceded to the demands on one condition; that the bureau would be subordinate to the CPK Central Committee. Hak Soon Paik contends that this turn of events is proof of "the Soviet army's policy, from the beginning, to set up an independent party organ in the North." With the two leading Korean communists in agreement, the Soviets organised

762-702: A communist leader for the Soviet-occupied territories and Beria met Kim several times before recommending him to Stalin. Kim arrived in the Korean port of Wonsan on 19 September 1945 after 26 years in exile. According to Leonid Vassin, an officer with the Soviet 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

889-478: A communist organisation. This effectively dissolved the Communist Party. Korea scholars Robert A. Scalapino and Chong-Sik Lee note that "The period immediately after 1925 was one of unending frustration and failure for the Korean Communists. Within three years, there no less than four attempts to establish a Korean Communist Party. Each rapidly ended in failure." The party became the Korean section of

1016-490: A five-year national economic plan (akin to Soviet Union's five-year plans ) 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. By the 1960s, North Korea enjoyed a standard of living which was higher than the standard of living in the South, which was fraught with political instability and economic crises . In

1143-551: 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. Kim Il Sung's most notable contribution to political theory is his conceptualization of the Juche idea, originally described as a variant of Marxism–Leninism . In his writings, Kim engaged with Karl Marx's metaphor that religion

1270-489: A level unheard of anywhere else, either in past or present times, let alone in a country which calls itself socialist." 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

1397-515: A member of the pro-Japanese and anti-communist Minsaengdan. A purge resulted: over 1,000 Koreans were expelled from the CCP, including Kim (who was arrested in late 1933 and exonerated in early 1934), and 500 were killed. Kim Il Sung's memoirs – and those of the guerrillas who fought alongside him – cite Kim's seizing and burning the suspect files of the Purge Committee as key to solidifying his leadership. After

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1524-437: A new offensive, retaking Seoul and advanced north once again halting at a point just north of the 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 " Armistice Line " of 27 July 1953. Over 2.5 million people died during

1651-488: 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 nationalized . There were improvements in the health of the population after he nationalized healthcare and made it available to all citizens. Archival material suggests 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

1778-777: A part of Kim's vast network of abusive penal and forced labor institutions , were fenced and heavily guarded colonies which were located in mountainous areas of the country, where prisoners were forced to perform back-breaking labor such as logging, mining, and picking crops. Most of the prisoners were incarcerated in these camps for their entire lives, and inside the camps, their living and working conditions were usually deadly. For example, prisoners were nearly starved to death, they were denied medical care, they were denied proper housing and clothes, they were subjected to sexual violence, they were regularly mistreated, and they were tortured and executed by guards. Despite his opposition to de-Stalinization, Kim never officially severed relations with

1905-539: A party congress and delegating final authority in picking party personnel to Pak Hon-yong. The Changan group opposed the resolutions. On 11–14 September the Refounding Congress of the CPK was held, and elected Pak Hon-yong Chairman of a 31-strong Central Committee . The program adopted by the congress opposed cooperation with the landlords and the capitalist class. It claimed those that did collaborate were "joining hands with reactionary fascists to organise

2032-543: A prominent early leader of the Korean resistance , Kim Kyung-cheon . The Soviet officer Grigory Mekler , who worked with Kim during the Soviet occupation , said that Kim took this name from a former commander who had died. 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

2159-419: A similar agenda can join the struggle and that "even a religionist ... must be enrolled in our ranks without hesitation." 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

2286-520: A socialist one. Moreover, the PCR–CPK sought to form a people's front under the leadership of the Communist Party of Korea (CPK) to seize power. On 8 September a meeting composed of representatives from the PCR–CPK, the Changan group and the fairly small Red Flag group was convened. The Changan group were outnumbered three to one and therefore sought to downplay the meeting's importance. Pak Hon-yong told

2413-603: A special unit known as the 88th Separate Rifle Brigade , which belonged to the Soviet Red Army . Kim's immediate superior was Zhou Baozhong . Kim became a Major in the Soviet Red Army and served in it until the end of World War II in 1945. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on 8 August 1945, and the Red Army entered Pyongyang on 24 August 1945. Stalin had instructed Lavrentiy Beria to recommend

2540-564: A speech (which the MVD prepared for him) at a Communist Party congress three days after he arrived. In December 1945, the Soviets installed Kim as first secretary of the North Korean Branch Bureau of the Communist Party of Korea . 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. General Terentii Shtykov , who led

2667-608: A spontaneous violent uprising in eastern Manchuria arose in which peasants attacked some local villages in the name of resisting "Japanese aggression". The authorities easily suppressed this impromptu uprising. Because of the attack, the Japanese began to plan an occupation of Manchuria. In a speech Kim allegedly made before a meeting of Young Communist League delegates on 20 May 1931 in Yenchi County in Manchuria, he warned

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2794-570: A ten-day mourning period was declared by Kim Jong Il. His funeral was scheduled to be held on 17 July 1994 in Pyongyang but was delayed until 19 July. It 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

2921-533: 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

3048-546: 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 between 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. The Constitution of North Korea

3175-442: Is the opium of the people . He did so both in the context of responding to his comrades who objected to working with religious groups (Chonbulygo and Chondoism , respectively). In the first instance, Kim replies that a person is "mistaken" if he or she believes Marx's proposition regarding "opium of the people" can be applied in all instances, explaining that if a religion "prays for dealing out divine punishment to Japan and blessing

3302-523: The songbun , a caste system in which the North Korean people were divided 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—this caste system 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

3429-565: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – the Communist Party of Korea had been founded in 1925, but had been thrown out of the Communist International in the early 1930s for being too nationalist. He joined various anti-Japanese 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,

3556-470: The Chinese Communist Party . In the early 1930s, Korean and Chinese communists began guerrilla activity against the Japanese forces. After liberation from the Japanese occupation in 1945, the situation for the Korean communists changed considerably. The country was divided into United States and Soviet occupation zones, and the working conditions for the party were very different in the two zones. In

3683-740: The Clinton administration over its nuclear program. 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. Shortly before noon on 7 July 1994, Kim Il Sung collapsed from a heart attack at his residence in Hyangsan , North Pyongan . After the heart attack, Kim Jong Il ordered

3810-595: The Conference of Korean Communist Party Members and Enthusiasts in the Five Northwestern Provinces (CKCPMEFNP,북조선 5도당책임자 및 열성자 대회) on 10–13 October 1945. In light of the agreement between Kim Il Sung and Pak Hon-yong, the CKCPMEFNP was convened with support from the leading centres of the Korean communist movement. However, a conflict between indigenous communists, classified as belonging to

3937-647: The Mangyongdae neighborhood of Pyongyang. Kim was reportedly born in the small village of Mangyungbong (then called Namni) near Pyongyang on 15 April 1912. According to a 1964 semi-official biography of Kim, he was born in his mother's home in Chingjong, and later grew up in Mangyungbong. According to Kim, his family was always a step away from poverty. Kim said that he was raised by a very active Presbyterian Christian family. His maternal grandfather

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4064-616: The March First Movement , a member of the anti-communist terrorist group the White Shirts Society attempted to assassinate Kim by lobbing a grenade at his podium. However, Soviet military officer Yakov Novichenko grabbed the grenade and absorbed the blast with his body, leaving Kim and other bystanders unharmed. To solidify his control, Kim established the Korean People's Army (KPA), aligned with

4191-650: The Soviet Civilian Authority . The first chairman of the Bureau was Kim Yong-bom who had been sent to Korea by the Comintern in the 1930s to conduct underground activity. Kim Il Sung was a member of the Bureau at its founding and replaced Kim Yong-bom as chairman in December 1945. Official North Korean historians later disputed this, claiming that Kim Il Sung had become its chairman from the onset of

4318-486: The Soviet Union . By the 1960s, North Korea had a slightly higher standard of living than the South, which was suffering from political chaos and economic crises. The situation was reversed in the 1970s, 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 stagnated and then declined during

4445-526: The United States defense force 's presence in the region, which it considered imperialist , having seized the American ship USS  Pueblo in 1968. This was part of an infiltration and subversion campaign to reunify the peninsula under North Korea's rule. Kim outlived his allies, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong , by over four and almost two decades, respectively, and remained in power during

4572-889: 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 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

4699-399: The domestic faction , began to work against Kim Il Sung when it became clear he sought complete independence from the CPK. This struggle would culminate with Kim Il Sung's speech to the 2nd Congress of the Workers' Party of North Korea , in which he criticised the domestic faction and fellow communist O Ki-sop directly. However, at the conference, Kim Il Sung was still careful of confronting

4826-684: The first of October Daegu Uprising (Autumn Uprising) . The remainder of the party, still functioning in the southern areas, worked under the name of Communist Party of South Korea . The party merged with the southern remainder of the New People's Party and a faction of the People's Party of Korea (the so-called forty-eighters ), founding the Workers' Party of South Korea on November 23, 1946. Kim Il Sung Kim Il Sung ( / k ɪ m ɪ l ˈ s ʌ ŋ , - ˈ s ʊ ŋ / ; Korean :  김일성 , Korean pronunciation: [kimils͈ʌŋ] ; born Kim Sung Ju ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994)

4953-638: The personality cult which was built around him, he was a significant guerrilla leader. Despite the United Nations ' plans to conduct nationwide elections in Korea, on 15 August 1948, the US-occupied south proclaimed the Republic of Korea , which claimed sovereignty over all of Korea. In response, the Soviets held elections of their own in their northern occupation zone on 25 August 1948 for

5080-533: The "construction of a new nation by selected Communists." Kim Il Sung would later criticise O Ki-sop for his stance at the 2nd Party Congress in 1948, stating that the belief that the national united front strategy "would give the party a setback [and] make the party rightist-oriented" was wrong. This part of the debate produced the document " Resolution on the Establishment of the Political Line and

5207-648: The "democratic camp" led by the Soviet Union was light-hearted. Political scientist Robert Scalapino and Chong-sik Lee theorise that this criticism was actually levelled by the Soviets but was communicated through the Hyon Chun-hyok group since it was the only prominent communist organisation in North Korea at the time. Shortly after, on 19 September 1945, Kim Il Sung and his partisan unit returned to Korea. Scholar Hak Soon Paik writes that "The Soviet army appears to have taken step-by-step measures to undermine

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5334-579: 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. 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. During his rise and his consolidation of power, Kim created

5461-524: The 1970s, Kim developed a calcinosis 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 Reinaldo Sánchez, 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. 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

5588-720: The 1980s. The practical effect of Juche was to cut the country off from virtually all foreign trade in order to make it entirely self-reliant . The 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 , from 1989 to 1992, completed North Korea's virtual isolation. These events led to mounting economic difficulties because Kim refused to issue any economic or political reforms. As he aged, starting in

5715-812: The Bureau was changed to 'Organizational Committee of the Communist Party of North Korea' (often simply referred to as the 'Communist Party of North Korea'). On July 22, 1946, the North Korea Bureau joined with the New People's Party of Korea , the Democratic Party and the Chondoist Chongu Party (supporters of an influential religious movement) to form the North Korean Fatherland United Democratic Front . On July 29, 1946,

5842-410: The Bureau. Moreover, official North Korean sources claim that the meeting was held on October 10. October 10 is regarded as the "Party Foundation Day" in North Korea, on which Kim Il Sung formed the first genuine Marxist–Leninist party in the country. Official North Korean historians seek to downplay the role of early communist leaders like Pak Hon-yong. Official North Korean sources claim that the name of

5969-651: The CEC members; Kim Chae-bong was assigned secretarial work, organizational affairs to Cho Tong-ho, propaganda work to Kim Chan, personnel affairs to Kim Yak-su, labour and agricultural affairs to Chong Un-hae, politics and economics to Yi Chin-hi, and security to Chu Chong-gon. A decision on establishing a Communist Youth League was made at the meeting, and elected Pak Hon-yong as head of secretarial work, organisational work to Kwon O-sol, propaganda to Shin Chol-su, education and training to Kim Tan-ya, security to Hong Chung-sik, and

6096-550: The CPK and Pak Hon-yong in line with the aforementioned agreement. Two different lines were articulated at the conference. O Ki-sop, the representative of the Pak Hon-yong line, espoused the idea of a popular front while Kim Il Sung and his supported advocated a national united front strategy. The Pak Hon-yong overall line was adopted by the conference, but a compromise was reached in several areas. Kim Il Sung's national united front strategy explicitly called for an alliance with

6223-534: The CPK" and in support with the party's national policies "Long live the Sovereignty of the Korean People's Republic ." In line with his critical stance, Kim Il Sung called the conference to discuss the following points; Political scientist Hak Soon Paik writes "I believe that Kim Il-sung clearly took the initiative in the Korean Communist movement by introducing such critical issues of the party [at

6350-471: The CPK. In the days following Japan's surrender on 14 August 1945, several communist organisations were created. The first notable attempt was established on either 15, 16 or 17 August, and a public declaration was released on 18 August by the "Seoul District of the Communist Party of Korea". This group would go down in history as the Changan group , and its leading figures were Choe Ik-han , Yi Yong , Cho Tong-ho and Hyon Chun-hyok . An invitation to join

6477-400: The Center to print party membership certificates, let us issue them in north Korea under the approval of the [CPK Central Committee]." The conference passed a draft of party rules, and on Kim Il Sung's suggestion sent it to Seoul to "help" the CPK leadership. The conference unanimously approved "the work in Seoul be assisted by proposing to the [CPK Central Committee] that the draft be decided by

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6604-434: The Central Committee of the Changan group was sent to Pak Hon-yong , but the invitation was declined on 19 August. He instead opted to form the Preparatory Committee for the Reconstruction of the Communist Party of Korea (PCR–CPK) and called for the dissolution of the Changan group. The PCR–CPK supported the theory of two-stage revolution , the idea that Korea had to undergo a bourgeoisie democratic revolution before starting

6731-462: The Changan group reacted by criticising the meeting's proposals as being "reformist, economist, and anarchistic". Pak Hon-yong retorted that the proposals laid the groundwork for establishing "a great Bolshevik party combining the revolutionary intelligentsia who have mastered revolutionary theory with the workers who have weathered the experience of the actual movement." The meeting passed three resolutions; on approving Pak Hon-yong's report, on convening

6858-419: The Changan group. While both O Ki-sop and Kim Il Sung recognised Pak Hon-yong's leadership and achievements, Kim Il Sung was critical of the CPK and considered it a "failure". He criticised the party's problem with factionalism and told the gathering that it was "only two months old", refusing to give age-old legitimacy. As for the party's democratic norms and structure, both O Ki-sop and Kim Il Sung talked about

6985-457: The Comintern at its 6th World Congress in August–September 1928. But after only a few months as the Korean Comintern section, the perpetual feuds between rival factions that had plagued the party from its foundation led the Comintern to disband the Communist Party of Korea in December of the same year. However, the party continued to exist through various party cells. Some communists, like Kim Il Sung went into exile in China , where they joined

7112-408: 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 Nationalist Chinese troops. 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

7239-453: The Eastern Bloc and non-aligned countries like Yugoslavia . As a result, 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. The North Korean government's practice of abducting foreign nationals, such as South Koreans , Japanese , Chinese , Thais , and Romanians ,

7366-563: The Executive Committee, a Standing Committee was elected. The same plenum elected Kim Yong-bom as the First Secretary of the Executive Committee and O Ki-sop as Second Secretary of the Executive Committee There are also reports that Mu Chong was elected to a high-ranking position, but it seems unlikely that those rumours are true. At last, nine Executive Committee departments were established and nine department heads appointed. Books: Dissertations: Websites: Communist Party of Korea After several failed attempts to establish

7493-423: The Expansion and Strengthening of the Organisation ". Most of Kim Il Sung's suggestions featured in the document, but his united national front strategy was not mentioned at all. Otherwise, there were the points of agreements. Both O Ki-sop and Kim Il Sung harshly criticised left and right communism and specifically accused the Changan group of practising Trotskyism . However, as with the front strategy, Kim Il Sung

7620-733: 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. During

7747-399: 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 MiG-15 jet aircraft at secret bases. Several sources claim the name "Kim Il Sung" had previously been used by

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7874-447: The Korean Communist Party, was purged and executed in 1955. Choe Chang-ik appears to have been purged as well. Yi Sang-Cho, North Korea's ambassador to the Soviet Union and a critic of Kim who defected to the Soviet Union in 1956, was declared a factionalist and a traitor. The 1955 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

8001-402: The Korean War. 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

8128-427: The Korean nation" then it is a "patriotic religion" and its believers are patriots. In the second, Kim states that Marx's metaphor "must not be construed radically and unilaterally" because Marx was warning against "the temptation of a religious mirage and not opposing believers in general." Because the communist movement in Korea was fighting a struggle for "national salvation" against Japan, Kim writes that anyone with

8255-410: The New People's Party and the North Korea Bureau held a joint plenum of the Central Committees of both parties and agreed to merge into a single entity. A founding conference of the Workers' Party of North Korea was held on August 28–30. In September 1946, the Communist Party of Korea led a nationwide general strike . At its peak, more than 250,000 workers had joined the strike, which evolved into

8382-452: The North Korean communist movement was weak and the capitalist class powerful. On the other hand, O Ki-sop called for the establishment of a "united, people's self-reliant republic". He never mentioned capitalists and landlords in his speech, but warned against bringing pro-Japanese, pro-imperialist and reactionaries into the popular front. This was in direct opposition to Kim Il Sung's more inclusive line, and O Ki-sop went further and called for

8509-435: The Proposers' Committee for the Provincial Party Organisations in North Korea on either 29 or 30 September, and on either 1 or 8 October they organised a meeting between him and Pak Hon-yong. They discussed the possibility of establishing a separate communist organisation in North Korea but Pak Hon-yong opposed the scheme. Soviet Major General Andrei Romanenko chipped in and took Kim Il Sung's side, and advised them to establish

8636-426: 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 . On 25 October 1950, after sending various warnings of their intent to intervene if UN forces did not halt their advance, Chinese troops in

8763-475: The South, the party leader Pak Hon-yong, who had been a resistance fighter, and became active in Seoul upon his release in 1945. He reorganized a Central Committee , of which he became the Secretary. Being based in Seoul, he had limited contact with the Soviet occupation forces in the north. The Soviet Red Army liberated northern Korea in August 1945. Most members of the Communist Party of Korea were in southern Korea and there were very few Communist cadres in

8890-574: The Soviet Union, and he did not take part in the 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 . 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 's Romania . Ceaușescu

9017-448: The Soviet Union, and stated "[that] the Party Congress should be [the one] that will receive the support of the international brother [communist] parties". In this section of the debate, and in the conference more generally, all of Kim Il Sung's proposals were adopted unanimously. This means that even the representatives of the CPK Central Committee led by Pak Hon-yong fully endorsed his leadership of conference proceedings. The last item of

9144-505: The Soviet occupation of northern Korea, supported Kim over Pak Hon-yong to lead the Provisional People's Committee for North Korea on 8 February 1946. 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. On 1 March 1946, while giving a speech to commemorate an anniversary of

9271-639: The US government and British SIS , had obtained information on the limitations of US atomic bomb stockpiles as well as defense program cuts, leading Stalin to conclude that the Truman administration would not intervene in Korea. China acquiesced only reluctantly to the idea of Korean reunification after being told by Kim that Stalin had approved the action. 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

9398-546: The United States. Following the military stalemate in the Korean War , a ceasefire was signed in 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 totalitarian socialist personalist dictatorship with a centrally planned economy . It had very close political and economic relations with

9525-439: The Workers' Party of North Korea merged with its southern counterpart to become the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) with Kim as party chairman . By 1949, Kim and the communists had consolidated their rule in North Korea. Around this time, Kim began promoting an intense personality cult . The first of many statues of him appeared, and he began calling himself "Great Leader". In February 1946, Kim Il Sung decided to introduce

9652-403: The age of 24, controlling a few hundred men in a group that came to be known as "Kim Il Sung's division". On 4 June 1937, he led 200 guerrillas in a raid on Poch'onbo , destroying the local government offices and setting fire to a Japanese police station and post office. The success of the raid demonstrated Kim's talents as a military leader. Even more significant than the military success itself

9779-681: 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 and the chairman of the 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

9906-467: The book Surprise, Kill, Vanish , which further expounded that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) once concluded that Kim Il Sung was a blackmailed imposter operated by the Soviet Union. The dossier titled "The Identity of Kim Il Sung" ascribed the leader's true identity to Kim Song-ju, an orphaned child caught stealing money from a classmate who killed his classmate to avoid embarrassment. The dossier alleges Soviet intelligence officers identified

10033-433: The capitalist class and the landlords, while the popular front line opposed this. While this line had to be supported by his Soviet allies evidence points to the fact that Kim Il Sung had held this stance during his time as a partisan fighter. However, for Kim Il Sung this was nothing more than a tactic. He still emphasised the importance of maintaining the proletarian leadership in such an alliance, while frankly admitting that

10160-454: The center and printing and other technical matters be carried out in Pyongyang." That is, the NKBB which had been established as a subordinate organ of the CPK took the role of assistant to the CPK Central Committee. Despite this, Kim Il Sung moved carefully and the conference voted unanimously for adding the following text to its internal regulation; "Whenever the [CPK Central Committee] recognises

10287-496: The claim of a "second" Kim in his diaries. Historian Bruce Cumings pointed out that Japanese officers from the Kwantung Army have attested to his fame as a resistance figure. On August 12, 2009, Yonhap News Agency revealed that U.S. Army Military Government in Korea had already acknowledged that Kim Il Sung was in fact pretended by his nephew Kim Song-ju. In 2019, investigative journalist Annie Jacobsen published

10414-422: The conference]." The CPK, being plagued by factionalism, had failed to establish party rules, create membership cards and formalising the party structure. To take an example, the CPK had failed to establish a structure that issued party documents so the initiative shown by Kim Il Sung meant "a great deal" for certain segments in the party. Kim Il Sung proposed to the conference that "If it is technically difficult for

10541-421: The delegates against such unplanned uprisings as the 30 May 1930 uprising in eastern Manchuria. 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

10668-410: The destruction of the suspect files and the rehabilitation of suspects, those who had fled the purge rallied around Kim. As historian Suzy Kim summarizes, Kim Il Sung "emerged from the purge as a definitive leader, not only for the bold move but also for his compassion." In 1935, Kim took the name Kim Il Sung , meaning "Kim become the sun". Kim was appointed commander of the 6th division in 1937, at

10795-409: The ensuing years, Kim established himself as an independent leader of international communism . In 1956, he joined Mao in the " anti-revisionist " camp, which did not accept Nikita Khrushchev 's program of de-Stalinization , yet he did not become a Maoist himself. At the same time, he consolidated his power over the Korean communist movement . Rival leaders were eliminated. Pak Hon-yong , leader of

10922-420: The front line, and the Korean People's Army being mostly restricted to the coastal flanks of the front. 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

11049-431: The gathering that the communist movement needed to unite, and wanted those that had "engaged in the underground activity" to lead the party. Nevertheless, Pak Hon-yong said that individuals who had renounced communism during their imprisonment should not take leading party positions. This was a dig at the Changan group, in which several high-standing members had recanted their communist beliefs while imprisoned. Choe Ik-han of

11176-543: 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 Marx , Lenin , Mao , and 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

11303-400: The growth from official photographs and newsreels. Hiding the growth became increasingly difficult as the growth reached the size of a baseball by the late 1980s. 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 Defense Commission  – the body mainly responsible for control of

11430-671: The leadership in South Korea. These efforts culminated in an attempt to storm the Blue House and assassinate President Park Chung Hee . North Korean troops thus took a much more aggressive stance toward US forces in and around South Korea, engaging US Army troops in fire-fights along the Demilitarized Zone . The 1968 capture of the crew of the spy ship USS Pueblo was a part of this campaign. Albania 's Enver Hoxha (another independent-minded communist leader)

11557-509: The liaison brief to Cho Pong-am . Cho Tong-ho was put in charge of making a draft constitution and bylaws for the party, and was sent to the Soviet Union in May 1925 to get official recognition from the Communist International (Comintern), which it received in May 1926. However, several communists ended up being imprisoned at a wedding celebration in November 1925. Several communists attended

11684-457: The most effective and popular Korean guerrilla leaders ever. He appeared on Japanese wanted lists as the "Tiger". The Japanese "Maeda Unit" was sent to hunt him in February 1940. 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

11811-433: The need for democratic centralism and the importance of Marxist–Leninist beliefs . However, Kim Il Sung stated his opposition to "excessive democracy in which [too] many people participate in discussing all matters", thereby calling for the centralisation of power . O Ki-sop for that matter never criticised the CPK, and called for a standing ovation to Pak Hon-yong at the conference while finishing his report with "Long live

11938-485: The need of betterment such as reform, etc., the [CPK Central Committee] reserves the right to act accordingly and the Branch Bureau has the duty to obey." Kim Il Sung called for the convocation of an All-National Congress of the CPK "[to empower the party] cadres who would be elected through [party] action programs, party certificates, party rules and party democracy." He indirectly mentioned the support he had from

12065-432: The north. The Soviets began to rely largely on exiled communists who returned to Korea at the end of World War II as well as ethnic Koreans who were part of the large Korean community in the USSR and therefore Soviet citizens. Kim Il Sung became a prominent figure of the party in the northern areas. After his years as a guerilla leader, Kim Il Sung had moved to the Soviet Union (where historians believe his son Kim Jong Il

12192-584: The opportunity to blackmail Kim Song-ju into leading the North Korean Communist Party as a Soviet puppet under the name of the real war hero Kim-Il Sung, whom Stalin had disappeared. Jacobsen also writes that the CIA learned "specific instructions [were] given to the leaders of the regime that there should be no questions raised about Kim [Il Sung]'s identity." Historians generally accept the view that, while Kim's exploits were exaggerated by

12319-667: The power bases of the local Communists and to render Kim Il-sung all kinds of assistance in taking over the leadership of the Communist [organisations] in North Korea." In tandem with Kim Il Sung's arrival, a group of card-carrying members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union with Korean ethnicity arrived. This group would later be dubbed the Soviet Korean faction and would play a pivotal role in Kim Il Sung's consolidation of power. The Soviets helped Kim Il Sung organise

12446-588: The proceeding was to elect the composition of the NKBB Executive Committee (which took place on 13 October 1945). 15 individuals drawn from Pyongyang and five provinces were elected to the Executive Committee. The identity of one member remains unknown to this day. 10 members had a background in the indigenous communist movement , and two (Kim Il Sung and An Kil ) were former partisans . However, this does not mean that Kim Il Sung

12573-516: 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. During his rule, North Korea's government

12700-570: 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 apparent patrilineal in a communist state – which eventually would occur upon Kim Il Sung's death in 1994. 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 stagnated and then declined in

12827-493: The running of the government to him. The Kim family was supported by the army, due to Kim Il Sung's revolutionary record and the support of the veteran defense minister, O Chin-u . At the 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

12954-583: 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 and self-reliance . Despite this, the country received funds, subsidies and aid from the USSR and the Eastern Bloc until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. The resulting loss of economic aid negatively affected North Korea's economy, contributing to widespread famine in 1994. During this period, North Korea also remained critical of

13081-568: The so-called Korean Democratic Party and other associations to deceive the people." The following day, on 15 September, an Enlarged Plenary Session of the South Pyongan Provincial Committee of the Changan group in North Korea (led by Hyon Chun-hyok) criticised CPK's policies. They claimed that the CPK's attitude towards the United Kingdom and the United States was "ambiguous", and believed its posture towards

13208-450: 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 at 02:00 am PST on 8 July 1994, aged 82. After the traditional Confucian mourning period, his death was declared 34 hours later. Kim Il Sung's death resulted in nationwide mourning and

13335-517: The terms of office of six South Korean Presidents and ten United States Presidents . Known as the Great Leader ( Suryong ), he established a far-reaching personality cult which dominates domestic politics in North Korea . At the 6th WPK Congress in 1980, his oldest son Kim Jong Il was elected to be a Presidium member and chosen to be his successor, thus establishing the Kim dynasty . Kim

13462-725: 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. 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

13589-623: The time was 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. Kim's actions during the Minsaengdan incident helped solidify his leadership. The CCP operating in Manchuria had become suspicious that any Korean could secretly be

13716-411: The war included 2,919 civil servants, 1,613 police, 190 judicial officers and lawyers, and 424 medical practitioners. In the 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

13843-400: The wedding, including Tokko Chon and Kim Kyong-so, and became involved in a brawl with Japanese police in which they made their political views clear. On further investigation, the Japanese police managed to find several party documents and communist materials in the suspect's home. Ultimately, the Japanese police arrested an estimated 100 individuals and convicted 83 for illegally establishing

13970-673: The youngest member of the Korean Communist Youth Association  [ ko ] , an underground Marxist organization with fewer than twenty members. It was led by Hŏ So ( 허소 ; 許笑 ), who belonged to the South Manchurian Communist Youth Association  [ ko ] . The police discovered the group three weeks after it formed in 1929, and jailed Kim for several months. Kim's formal education ended after his arrest and imprisonment. In 1931, Kim joined

14097-523: Was 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 Japanese rule over Korea in 1945 following Japan's surrender in World War II , he authorized the invasion of South Korea in 1950, triggering an intervention in defense of South Korea by the United Nations led by

14224-553: Was a North Korean politician, revolutionary, and military leader. He founded the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea , which he led as Supreme Leader from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. Afterwards, he was succeeded by his son Kim Jong Il and was declared Eternal President . He held the posts of the Premier from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to 1994. He

14351-515: Was a Protestant minister , and his father had gone to a missionary school and he was also an elder in the Presbyterian Church. According to an official North Korean government account, Kim's family participated in anti-Japanese activities and fled to Manchuria in 1920. Like most Korean families, they resented the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula (which had begun on 29 August 1910). Japanese repression of Korean opposition

14478-411: 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 revisionist " and later that month he added that "in Pyongyang, I believe that even Tito will be astonished at the proportions of the cult of his host [Kim Il sung], which has reached

14605-501: 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, in late 1940, Kim and a dozen of his fighters escaped by crossing the Amur River into the Soviet Union. Kim was sent to a camp at Vyatskoye near Khabarovsk , where the Soviets retrained the Korean communist guerrillas. In August 1942, Kim and his army were assigned to

14732-625: Was born Kim Song Ju to father Kim Hyong Jik and mother Kang Pan Suk . Kim had two younger brothers, Kim Chul Ju  [ ko ] and Kim Yong-ju . Kim Chul Ju died while fighting the Japanese and Kim Yong-ju came to be involved in the North Korean government; he was considered as an heir to his brother before he fell out of favor. Kim's family, part of the Jeonju Kim clan , is said to have originated in Jeonju , North Jeolla Province . In 1860, his great-grandfather, Kim Ŭngu, settled in

14859-761: Was born in 1941) and had become a captain in the Red Army . His battalion arrived in Pyongyang just as the Soviets were looking for a suitable person who could assume a leading role in North Korea. On October 13, 1945, the North Korea Bureau of the Communist Party of Korea was established. Though technically under the control of the Seoul-based party leadership, the North Korean Bureau had little contact with Seoul and worked closely with

14986-399: Was harsh, resulting in the arrest and detention of more than 52,000 Korean citizens in 1912 alone. This repression had forced many Korean families to flee the Korean peninsula, and settle in Manchuria. Nevertheless, Kim's parents, especially his mother, played a role in the anti-Japanese struggle that was sweeping the peninsula. Their exact involvement – whether their cause

15113-490: Was heavily influenced by Kim's ideology, and the personality cult which grew around him in Romania was very similar to that of Kim. In the 1960s, Kim became impressed with the efforts of North Vietnamese Leader Ho Chi Minh to reunify Vietnam through guerrilla warfare and thought that something similar might be possible in Korea. Infiltration and subversion efforts were thus greatly stepped up against US forces and

15240-400: Was in a clear minority in the Executive Committee. Besides Kim Il Sung and O Ki-sop, the two other leading communists Pak Chong-ae and Kim Yong-bom supported Kim Il Sung and the Soviet line. Besides 71 percent of Executive Committee members having a domestic background that did not mean their position was anti-Kim or critical of him in any way. At a later date, at the 1st Plenary Session of

15367-518: Was little noticed at the time until state media started talking about it in 1963. 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. Kim transformed North Korea into what Wonjun Song and Joseph Wright consider a personalist dictatorship, where power was centralized in Kim personally. Kim Il Sung's cult of personality had initially been criticized by some members of

15494-595: Was missionary, nationalist, or both – is unclear. North Korean government sources credit Kim with founding the Down-with-Imperialism Union in 1926. He attended Whasung Military Academy in 1926, but found the academy's training methods outdated and quit it in 1927. He then attended Yuwen Middle School in China 's Jilin province until 1930, when he rejected the feudal traditions of older-generation Koreans and became interested in communist ideologies. Seventeen-year-old Kim became

15621-503: Was more flexible and inclusive than O Ki-sop. Kim Il Sung suggested that these communists could join the NKBB and CKP if they repented for their actions and were willing to learn from the errors. No such stance was articulated by O Ki-sop. Despite Kim Il Sung's stance, the conference passed the resolution " Criticism Against the Leftist Tendency and Its Sectarian Activities " in a bid to support Pak Hon-yong in his struggle against

15748-592: Was proclaimed on December 27, 1972, which created the position of the President of North Korea . Kim gave up his former Premier of the Cabinet position, which he had held since 1948, and became instead president, after the 1972 North Korean parliamentary election . On 14 April 1975, North Korea discontinued most formal use of its traditional units and adopted the metric system . In 1980, he decided that his son Kim Jong Il would succeed him, and increasingly delegated

15875-418: Was responsible for widespread human rights abuses . Kim Il Sung punished real and perceived dissent through purges which included public executions and enforced disappearances . Not only dissenters but their entire extended families were punished by being reduced to the lowest songbun rank, and many of them were also incarcerated in a secret system of political prison camps. These camps or kwanliso ,

16002-478: 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 . Despite repeated chiding from Western nations, Kim continued to conduct nuclear research and carry on with the uranium enrichment program. In June 1994, former US President Jimmy Carter traveled to Pyongyang in an effort to persuade Kim to negotiate with

16129-499: Was the political coordination and organization between the guerrillas and the Korean Fatherland Restoration Association, an anti-Japanese united front group based in Manchuria. These accomplishments 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

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