Kim Jong-suk

Infobox Korean name
context=north


caption=Kim Jong-suk (right) with son Kim Jong-il (left) and husband Kim Il-sung (middle), 1945.
hangul=김정숙
hanja=金正淑, born 金貞淑
rr=Gim Jeong-suk
mr=Kim Chŏng-suk

Kim Jong-suk (December 24, 1917 – September 22, 1949) was Kim Il-sung's first wife and Kim Jong-il's mother.

Kim Jong-suk was born December 24, 1917 to Kim Chun San and Oh Ssi in Osan-dong, Hoeryong County, in the North Hamgyong Province of Japanese-occupied Korea to a family of poor farmers. Later, her family would abandon Korea to live in China in 1922. Kim Jong-suk joined the Young Communist League of Korea, led by Kim Il-sung, on July 10, 1932. Later, on April 25, 1936, she was assigned to the KPRA main unit directly under the command of Kim Il-sung. Kim Jong-suk was formally admitted into the Communist Party on January 25, 1937. Kim Jong-suk gave birth to Kim Jong-il on February 16, 1941 in the Soviet village of Vyatskoye, near Khabarovsk.

On September 22, 1949, Kim Jong-suk died at the age of 31 while giving birth to a stillborn baby girl. Known in Korea as "The Heroine of the Anti-Japanese Revolution", the North Korean government conferred the title of DPRK Hero on her on September 21, 1972; her image is used as part of the propaganda apparatus of the Juche Workers Party of North Korea, in which she is portrayed as a revolutionary woman.

References

* Suh, Dae-Sook, Kim Il Sung: The North Korean Leader. New York: Columbia University Press (1988)
* Japser Becker, "Rogue Regime: Kim John Il and the Looming Threat of North Korea",

External links

* [http://www.korea-dpr.com/library/102.pdf "Kim Jong Suk, the Anti-Japanese Heroine"] (PDF)

Persondata
NAME=Kim, Jong-suk
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Kim Jeong-suk, Kim Chongsuk, 김정숙, 金正淑, 金貞淑
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Mother of Kim Jong-il.
DATE OF BIRTH=December 24, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH=Hoeryong, North Hamgyong, North Korea
DATE OF DEATH=September 22, 1949
PLACE OF DEATH=Pyongyang ?