| Kim Jong Suk | |||||||||||||
| Caption: | Kim in 1945 | ||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 24 December 1917 | ||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Hoeryong, Kankyōhoku-dō, Korea, Empire of Japan | ||||||||||||
| Death Place: | Pyongyang, North Korea | ||||||||||||
| Children: | Kim Jong Il Kim Man-il Kim Kyong-hui | ||||||||||||
| Awards: | Hero of the Republic, Order of the National Flag | ||||||||||||
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Kim Jong Suk (; 24 December 1917[1] – 22 September 1949) was a Korean anti-Japanese guerrilla, Communist activist, the first wife of North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, the mother of former leader Kim Jong Il and grandmother of current leader Kim Jong Un.
Kim Jong Suk was born on 24 December 1917 in Hoeryong County, Kankyōhoku-dō, Empire of Japan (now in North Hamgyong Province, North Korea).[2] Suh Dae-sook writes that she was "the elder of two daughters of a poor farmer." However, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), states that she had a younger brother, Kim Ki-song (김기송), who was born 9 February 1921.[3]
Kim Jong Suk followed her mother to Manchuria to look for her father, but they discovered that he had already died there. Soon after that, her mother died and she became an orphan. Most sources agree that Kim Jong Suk then joined Kim Il Sung's guerrilla force in 1935 or 1936[4] as a kitchen helper.[2] The KCNA, however, reports that Kim Jong Suk and Kim Ki-song joined the guerrilla forces after their mother and their elder brother’s wife were murdered by the Japanese.
During this time, Kim Jong Suk worked various odd jobs, and was arrested by the Japanese in 1937 in an undercover attempt to secure food and supplies. After her release, she rejoined the guerrillas, where she cooked, sewed, and washed.
It was around this time that Kim Jong Suk reportedly saved Kim Il Sung's life. Baik Bong relates the story in Kim Il Sung's official biography:
Kim Jong Suk married Kim Il Sung in the Soviet Union, most likely in 1941. On 16 February 1941[5] (or 1942, sources vary), in the Soviet village of Vyatskoye, Kim Jong Suk had Kim Jong Il, who was given the Russian name "Yuri Irsenovich Kim," and the nickname "Yura." In 1944, Kim Jong Suk had Kim Man-il, in Korean and "Alexander" or "Shura" in Russian. In 1946, she gave birth to a daughter, Kim Kyŏng-hŭi. Augustina Vardugina, a woman from Vyatskoye, was in her teens when Kim Il Sung's guerrilla group camped there. She remembers Kim Jong Suk, and how she would come to the village to barter military rations for chicken and eggs. Her son, Kim Jong Il, would be holding her hand.
A year after the establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and until her death, Kim Jong Suk was the first lady of North Korea. According to some accounts, Kim Jong Suk "was a small, quiet woman, not particularly well educated, but friendly and life-loving."[6] Major General N.G. Lebedev, an executive Soviet officer during the Soviet occupation of North Korea, recalled Kim Jong Suk as "a vivacious and generous lady who always cooked enormous amounts of food for the hungry Soviet generals when they visited Kim's home."
In commentary on one edition of Kim Il Sung's official autobiography, With the Century, it is stated that she died of an ectopic pregnancy on September 22, 1949.[7] According to Harrold, she died from "the hardships she had endured during the years as a guerrilla fighter."[8]
After Kim Jong Il succeeded Kim Il Sung, he began to make his mother, Kim Jong Suk, into "a revolutionary immortal."[9] This campaign created "a holy trinity known as the ‘Three Generals’ [of [[Paektu Mountain]]]". Instead of touting Kim Jong Suk as the quiet woman that she was, she became the heroine of the revolution. The website of the National Democratic Front of South Korea (NDFSK) says she was "a peerless heroine ... an anti-Japanese heroine ... a faithful retainer who faithfully carried out General Kim Il Sung’s [Kim Il Sung] will but also a lifeguard who safeguarded the General of every dangerous movement."[10]
Kim Jong Suk was recorded to have "conducted on-the-spot guidance sessions" and was a "great strategist". In her home town of Hoeryong, "a museum, a library, a statue, a square and the house in which she was born" are "devoted to the 'Mother of Korea'". She arranged parachute training and won several shooting competitions. One story says that she would wash Kim Il Sung's socks and dry them in her bosom, or cut her hair and spread it in Kim Il Sung's shoes.
Michael Harrold, in his memoir Comrades and Strangers, relates several stories he heard about Kim Jong Suk while in North Korea. According to him, there is a memorial near Mount Kumgang that marks where Kim Jong Suk stopped "when she realized she had forgotten to bring the great leader’s lunch, and had turned back to prepare something to eat for when he returned from the mountains." Kim Jong Suk is also credited with inspiring Kim Jong Il to build the Ryugyong Hotel. Harrold relates that Kim Jong Suk told a young Kim Jong Il that he "must build tall buildings for the people, of 30 or even 40 stories," and the son replied that he would build housing 100 stories high. This led to the construction of the 105-story Ryugyong Hotel, which is still not opened.
On 1 June 2015, the Daily NK reported that Kim Jong Suk's wedding ring had gone missing from Pyongyang's Korean Revolution Museum sometime in late May. Items belonging to key figures of the Kim family are of great importance. In 2010, state television aired a show dedicated to the story behind the ring, which was, purportedly, given to her by Kim Il Sung in 1938 for her role in the anti-Japanese guerrilla movement.[11]
Many places in North Korea are named after her, including Kimjongsuk County, Kim Jong Suk Naval Academy, Kim Jong Suk Teacher Training College, Kim Jong Suk Rest Home, and Kim Jong Suk Pyongyang Silk Mill.[12]
In North Korean News The KCNA regularly reports on Kim Jong Suk, either honoring her memory or describing her revolutionary activities. The following are headlines from articles relating to Kim Jong Suk from 2012: