Kim Il Sung place of birth Mangyongdae District
Early life
Family background
Kim was born to Kim Hyong-jik and Kang Pan-sok, who gave him the name Kim Song-ju. Kim had two younger brothers, Kim Ch'ol-chu (or Kim Chul-ju) and Kim Yong-ju.: 3 Kim's family is said to have originated from Jeonju, North Jeolla Province. His great-grandfather, Kim Ung-u, settled in Mangyongdae in 1860. Kim was reportedly born in the small village of Mangyungbong (then called Namni) near Pyongyang on 15 April 1912.: 12  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.: 73 According to Kim, his family was not impoverished, but it was always a step away from being so. Kim said that he was raised in a Presbyterian family, that his maternal grandfather was a Protestant minister, that his father had gone to a missionary school and was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and that his parents were very active in the religious community. According to an official North Korean government account, Kim's family participated in anti-Japanese activities and in 1920, they fled to Manchuria. Like most Korean families, they resented the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula (which had begun on 29 August 1910).: 12   Japanese repression of Korean opposition was harsh, resulting in the arrest and detention of more than 52,000 Korean citizens in 1912 alone.: 13  This repression had forced many Korean families to flee the Korean peninsula, and settle in Manchuria.Nevertheless, Kim's parents, especially his mother Kang Ban-suk, played a role in the anti-Japanese struggle that was sweeping the peninsula.: 16  Their exact involvement—whether their cause was missionary, nationalist, or both—is unclear.: 53
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