Kim Il-sung: The Great Leader

He is referred to as “Great Leader” in Northern Korea, though Kim Il-sung is no longer alive. Kim Il-sung lived from April 15, 1912 until July 8, 1994. During his life Kim Il-sung was a loyal communist and was prominent in so much of Korea’s history. Kim Il-sung was the leader of North Korea from the beginning in 1948 until his death in 1994. Upon his death, the son of Kim took over his father’s post so it was not as though he just disappeared after death.

Kim Il-sung had a lengthy political career. He was the Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and was named President from 1972 until his death. Kim Il-sung also held the powerful position of General Secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party. Kim Il-sung is named as the “eternal president” in the Constitution of North Korea, and both the date of his birth and the date of his death are public holidays! Kim Il-sung is a major part of North Korean history as he was there from its very beginnings and everyone knows that. The Government is not about to let its people forget Kim Il-sung and his political legacy.

Kim Il-sung was the oldest in a family of three children. Kim’s family was very active in their opposition of the Japanese and escaped to China in 1920. Kim went to school for a time, but his education is said to have stopped when he was arrested for rebellious activities. After his formal education ceased, Kim Il-sung joined several anti-Japanese guerilla groups in Northern China. This would not be a short-lived experience for Kim.

Kim eventually joined the Northeast Japanese United Army, which was a guerilla group led by the Communist Party of China. Kim started fighting with this group when he was about 20, in 1932 where he continued rising in rank until he became a commander in 1941, the same time when the Japanese drove the guerillas from Northern China. It was during this time that he took on the name Kim Il-sung. The name was that of an anti-Japanese fighter that had been killed in battle. It was around this same time that Kim escaped to the Soviet Union and lived in a camp where the Korean Communist guerillas were kept by the Soviets. Kim soon became a Captain in the Soviet Red Army.

By 1948, growing tensions between the two emerging Korean governments make it obvious that a re-unification wasn’t going to be possible. The Soviets decided to take action and named Kim Il-sung The Prime Minister of what would be known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The Soviets were effectively creating a new country that would be known as North Korea. As was typical of Soviet allies, the Communist Party then merged with various small groups to form the North Korean Workers’ Party. In 1949 the North Korean Workers’ Party merged with its Southern counterpart and became the Korean Workers Party with Kim Il-sung as party chairman.

In June of 1950 North Korean attacked the anti-communist Republic of Korea in the name of liberation of Southern Korea and the re-unification of the country under a communist government. North Korea captured Seoul and much of the South but were soon forced back by the United Nations forces led by the United States. The retaking of Seoul by the United Nations forced Kim and his government to flee to China.

After the war Kim Il-sung worked hard to rebuild the country of North Korea. He launched a five-year economic plan that was based on heavy industry such as arms production. In the 1950’s Kim was seen as a traditional Communist leader who was ultimately under the control of the Soviets. Over time he became more and more independent, leaning more toward the Chinese for much of the 1960’s. In 1972 Kim Il-sung was officially named President in the new constitution.

In the later years of his political reign, Kim struggled to keep North Korea under his thumb. Communist governments were collapsing in Europe and the Soviet Union and North Korea was struggling because they were cut off from all foreign trade. Though South Korea was enjoying a booming economy, the failing economy of North Korea was all that the citizens of North Korea knew as news of anything else was kept from them. In the 1970’s what is known as Kim’s “personality cult” grew bigger and bigger and it’s said that he would literally oversee just about every aspect of life in North Korea. Kim was thought to have supernatural powers, though he was never able to reunite the two counties like he always said he would, instead he had his son developing nuclear weapons.

When Kim died of a heart attack in 1994 his country was in near ruin. Economically it was in shambles, the agricultural part of the government could not provide for its citizens, and the country was in debt. Yet, the people still idolized Kim Il-sung. At his funeral thousands and thousands of mourners were crying for their leader. The people did not realize that he had led them into ruin. As he had intended, his sun would be his successor.