Kim Hyong-jik
Kim Hyong-jik (Korean: 김형직; 10 July 1894 – 5 June 1926) was a Korean independence activist during Japanese rule. He was the father of the North Korean founder Kim Il-sung, the paternal grandfather of Kim Jong-il, and a great-grandfather of the current leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un. Biography. Little is known about Kim. Born on 10 July 1894, in the small village of Mangyongdae, situated atop a peak called Mungyungbong ("All-Seeing Peak") just 12 kilometers downstream on the Diadong River from Pyongyang, Kim was the son of Kim Bo-hyon (金輔鉉 , 1871–1955). Kim attended Sungshil School, which was run by American missionaries, and became a teacher and later an herbal pharmacist. He died as a result of numerous medical problems, including third-degree frostbite. Kim and his wife attended Christian churches, and Kim even served as a part-time Protestant missionary. It was reported that his son, Kim Il-sung, attended church services during his teenage years before becoming an atheist later in life. Kim Il-sung often spoke of his father's idea of "chiwŏn" (righteous aspirations). Kim Jong-il's official government biography states that his grandfather was "the  leader of the anti-Japanese national liberation movement and was a pioneer in shifting the direction from the nationalist movement to the communist movement in Korea". This is widely disputed among foreign academics and independent sources, who claim that Kim's opposition was little more than general grievances with life under Japanese occupation. Kim Il-sung claimed his ancestors, including his grandfather Kim Bo-hyon and great-grandfather Kim Ung-u (1848–1878), were involved in the "General Sherman" incident, but this is also disputed and believed to be a fabrication. Kim Hyong-jik is claimed by North Korea to have  convened an important meeting of independence activists in November, 1921 memorialized at the Sansong Revolutionary Site.