page_title: Kim dynasty (North Korea)
section_title: Kim Il-sung
hierarchical_section_title: Kim dynasty (North Korea) / Kim Il-sung
caption_attribution_description: English: North Korean propaganda poster of the former president Kim Il-sung Čeština: Severokorejský propagandistický plakát tamního prvního prezidenta Kim Ir Sena中文（繁體）‎: 朝鮮官方的金日成肖像畫
context_page_description: The Kim dynasty, referred to in North Korea as the Mount Paektu bloodline or Mount Baekdu bloodline, is a three-generation lineage of North Korean leadership descending from the country's first leader, Kim Il-sung. In 1948, Kim came to rule the North after the end of Japanese rule in 1945 split the region. He began the Korean War in 1950 in a failed attempt to reunify the Korean Peninsula. By the 1980s, Kim developed a cult of personality closely tied to their state philosophy of Juche, which would later be passed on to his two successors: son Kim Jong-il and grandson Kim Jong-un.
  In 2013, Clause 2 of Article 10 of the new edited Ten Principles for the Establishment of a Monolithic Ideological System adopted by the government, states that the Party and revolution must be carried "eternally" by the "Baekdu bloodline".
context_section_description: Kim Il-sung married twice and had six children. He met his first wife, Kim Jong-suk, in 1936, and she bore Kim Jong-il, Kim Man-il, and Kim Kyong-hui before dying while bearing a stillborn daughter. Kim Jong-suk was born 24 December 1917 in Hoeryong in (North) Hamgyo’ng Province. Her family and she fled Korea to Yanji, Jilin (Kirin) Province around 1922. In October 1947, Kim Jong-suk presided over the establishment of a school for war orphans in South P’yo’ngan Province, which became the Mangyo’ngdae Revolutionary School. When the school opened in west Pyongyang one year after its foundation, Kim Jong-suk also unveiled the country's first statue to Kim Il-sung. In 1949, Kim Jong-suk was once again pregnant. She continued public activities, but her health diminished. She died on 19 September 1949 due to complications from pregnancy. Kim Il-sung had three children with his second wife, Kim Song-ae: Kim Kyong-il (born 1951), Kim Pyong-il (born 1953), and Kim Yong-il (born 1955). He had two younger brothers, Kim Chol-ju and Kim Yong-ju and a sister.
  When Kim Il-sung's first wife died, Kim Song-ae was not recognized as Kim Il-sung's wife for several years. Neither partnerships had public weddings. Born Kim So’ng-p’al in the early 1920s in South P’yo’ngan Province, Kim Song-ae began her career as a clerical worker in the Ministry of National Defense where she first met Kim Il-sung in 1948. She was hired to work in his residence as an assistant to Kim Jong-suk. In addition to doing secretarial work for the Kims, she also looked after Kim Jong-il and Kim Kyong-hui. After Kim Jong-suk's 1949 death, Kim Song-ae began managing Kim Il-sung's household and domestic life.
  In 1953, Kim Song-ae gave birth to her first child with Kim Il Sung, a daughter named Kim Kyong Jin (Kim Kyo’ng-chin). She went on to have at least two other children with him, sons  Kim Pyong-il (b. 1954) and Kim Yong Il (b. 1957).
  Kim Kyong-hui became North Korea's first female four-star general. Her husband Jang Sung-taek was the second most powerful person in Korea before his December 2013 execution for corruption. Their 29-year-old daughter overdosed on sleeping pills in 2006 while in Paris. It has also been reported that Kim Yong-il, who was dispatched to serve in Germany, died from cirrhosis of the liver in 2000.
caption: Eternal President Kim Il-sung
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