President Kim Il Sung
President Kim Il Sung was born in Mangyongdae, Pyongyang, on April 15, Juche 1 (1912), the eldest son of Kim Hyong Jik and Kang Pan Sok.
His father named him Song Ju, hoping that he would become a pillar of the country.
He spent his childhood moving frequently to different parts of Korea and China with his parents who were engaged in revolutionary activities.
He acquired a good command of Chinese while studying at a Chinese school thanks to his father, Kim Hyong Jik. This greatly helped him in his future joint struggle with the Japanese people against Japanese imperialism.
In March 1923, following the lofty idea of his father, Kim Il Sung made a 250-mile journey from Badaogou in China to Mangyongdae to have a better understanding of the situation in his country, and began to study at Changdok School in Chilgol, his mother’s hometown.
In January 1925, he learned that his father had been arrested again by the Japanese police, and resolutely left Mangyongdae, with a firm resolve not to return until Korea became independent.
In June 1926, after the death of his father, Kim Hyong Jik, he was admitted to Hwasong Uisuk Military-Political School, a two-year military-political school belonging to an anti-Japanese organization in Huadian, China, where he organized the Down-with-Imperialism Union and was recognized as its leader on October 17 the same year.
Leaving Hwasong Uisuk School after a six-month study, Kim Il Sung went on to full-scale revolutionary activities and shifted his theatre of revolutionary activities to Jilin.
While studying at Jilin Yuwen Middle School, he reorganized the Down-with-Imperialism Union into the Anti-Imperialist Youth League, a more mass-based organization, on August 27, 1927, and formed the Young Communist League of Korea on August 28.
He also formed various mass organizations and led the struggle against Japanese domination.
He clarified the path of the Korean revolution and strategic and tactical issues in carrying out its main task at the Kalun Meeting from June 30 to July 2, 1930.
He formed the first party organization – the Society for Rallying Comrades – on July 3 in Kalun, and organized the Korean Revolutionary Army, a political-paramilitary organization in preparation for an armed struggle against the Japanese, in Guyushu, Yitong County, on July 6 the same year.
He formed the Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army (later reorganized into the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army), a standing revolutionary army, on April 25, 1932, led the armed struggle against Japanese domination, liberated the country on August 15, 1945, and returned home in triumph in September the same year.
He formed the Central Organizing Committee of the Communist Party of North Korea and proclaimed the founding of the Party on October 10, 1945.
He formed the Provisional People’s Committee of North Korea, and was elected its chairman on February 8, 1946, and made public the 20-Point Platform.
He founded the Workers’ Party of North Korea by merging the Communist Party with the New Democratic Party in August 1946.
He successfully carried out the tasks of the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution in a short period.
He organised the first democratic elections and established the North Korean People’s Assembly, where he was elected chairman of the North Korean People’s Committee, the new central organ of state power, and set tasks for the transition to socialism.
He reorganized the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army into the Korean People’s Army, a regular revolutionary armed force, in February 1948.
On September 9, 1948, he founded the DPRK, the unified central government of the Korean nation, and was elected Premier of the Government, head of state, unanimously by the whole Korean people.
He convened the Joint Plenary Meeting of the Central Committees of the Workers’ Parties of North and South Korea on June 30, 1949, where he was elected Chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
From June 25, 1950, to July 27, 1953, he led the great Fatherland Liberation War to a shining victory, defending national sovereignty and making a contribution to weakening US imperialism.
On August 5, 1953, at the 6th Plenary Meeting of the Party Central Committee, he set forth the basic line of postwar economic construction and led the struggle for its implementation.
He pushed forward the socialist revolution aimed at transforming the relations of production on socialist lines in towns and villages in parallel with postwar economic rehabilitation.
He was re-elected Chairman of the Central Committee at the 3rd and 4th Congresses of the Workers’ Party of Korea (April 1956 and September 1961).
He advanced a new idea of uninterrupted revolution and defined the three revolutions—ideological, technical and cultural—as its main content.
He convened the 5th Plenary Meeting of the 4th Party Central Committee in December 1962 and set forth a new strategic policy of simultaneously pushing forward economic construction and defence building so as to cope with the US imperialists’ ever more undisguised moves for another war.
He was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea at the 14th Plenary Meeting of the 4th Party Central Committee, which was held in October 1966.
He successfully guided the historic task of industrialization from 1957 to 1970.
In accordance with the new Socialist Constitution of the DPRK adopted at the first session of the Supreme People’s Assembly in December 1972, he was elected President of the DPRK.
He was re-elected General Secretary of the Central Committee at the 5th and 6th Congresses of the Workers’ Party of Korea (November 1970 and October 1980).
He defined the modelling of the whole society on the Juche idea as the general task of the Korean revolution.
He worked heart and soul for the Party and the revolution, for the country and the people, and for global independence until the last moments of his life and passed away, all of a sudden, at 2 am on July 8, 1994, at his office.
He lived his whole life true to the motto: “The people are my God.”
He was awarded the titles of Generalissimo of the DPRK, Hero of the DPRK (three times) and Hero of Labour.
He met over 70,000 foreign guests including heads of state and government and party leaders, and paid official and unofficial visits to 87 countries on 54 occasions.
He received over 180 highest orders and medals from more than 70 countries and international organizations, the titles of honorary citizen of more than 30 cities, the titles of honorary professor and doctor honoris causa from 20 renowned foreign universities and colleges, and 165,920 gifts from heads of state and government and party leaders from 169 countries.
Statues of Kim Il Sung were erected and the International Kim Il Sung Prize was instituted and awarded in China and Mongolia, and more than 480 streets, institutions and organizations in over 100 countries were named after him.
His classics were translated into more than 60 different languages and a total of 24.57 million copies were published in 110 countries.