144-515: Kim Il Sung ( / k ɪ m ɪ l ˈ s ʌ ŋ , - ˈ s ʊ ŋ / ; Korean : 김일성 , Korean pronunciation: [kimils͈ʌŋ] ; born Kim Sung Ju ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician, revolutionary, and military leader. He founded the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea , which he led as Supreme Leader from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. Afterwards, he
288-625: A foreign language ) is also generated by longstanding alliances, military involvement, and diplomacy, such as between South Korea–United States and China–North Korea since the end of World War II and the Korean War . Along with other languages such as Chinese and Arabic , Korean is ranked at the top difficulty level for English speakers by the United States Department of Defense . Modern Korean descends from Middle Korean , which in turn descends from Old Korean , which descends from
432-523: A totalitarian socialist personalist dictatorship with a centrally planned economy . It had very close political and economic relations with the Soviet Union . By the 1960s, North Korea had a slightly higher standard of living than the South, which was suffering from political chaos and economic crises. The situation was reversed in the 1970s, as a newly stable South Korea became an economic powerhouse which
576-775: A 1964 semi-official biography of Kim, he was born in his mother's home in Chingjong, and later grew up in Mangyungbong. According to Kim, his family was always a step away from poverty. Kim said that he was raised by a very active Presbyterian Christian family. His maternal grandfather was a Protestant minister , and his father had gone to a missionary school and he was also an elder in the Presbyterian Church. According to an official North Korean government account, Kim's family participated in anti-Japanese activities and fled to Manchuria in 1920. Like most Korean families, they resented
720-484: A Korean influence on Khitan. The hypothesis that Korean could be related to Japanese has had some supporters due to some overlap in vocabulary and similar grammatical features that have been elaborated upon by such researchers as Samuel E. Martin and Roy Andrew Miller . Sergei Starostin (1991) found about 25% of potential cognates in the Japanese–Korean 100-word Swadesh list . Some linguists concerned with
864-730: A Major in the Soviet Red Army and served in it until the end of World War II in 1945. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on 8 August 1945, and the Red Army entered Pyongyang on 24 August 1945. Stalin had instructed Lavrentiy Beria to recommend a communist leader for the Soviet-occupied territories and Beria met Kim several times before recommending him to Stalin. Kim arrived in the Korean port of Wonsan on 19 September 1945 after 26 years in exile. According to Leonid Vassin, an officer with
1008-518: A classmate who killed his classmate to avoid embarrassment. The dossier alleges Soviet intelligence officers identified the opportunity to blackmail Kim Song-ju into leading the North Korean Communist Party as a Soviet puppet under the name of the real war hero Kim-Il Sung, whom Stalin had disappeared. Jacobsen also writes that the CIA learned "specific instructions [were] given to the leaders of
1152-477: A core vowel. The IPA symbol ⟨ ◌͈ ⟩ ( U+0348 ◌͈ COMBINING DOUBLE VERTICAL LINE BELOW ) is used to denote the tensed consonants /p͈/, /t͈/, /k͈/, /t͡ɕ͈/, /s͈/ . Its official use in the extensions to the IPA is for "strong" articulation, but is used in the literature for faucalized voice . The Korean consonants also have elements of stiff voice , but it is not yet known how typical this
1296-622: A dozen of his fighters escaped by crossing the Amur River into the Soviet Union. Kim was sent to a camp at Vyatskoye near Khabarovsk , where the Soviets retrained the Korean communist guerrillas. In August 1942, Kim and his army were assigned to a special unit known as the 88th Separate Rifle Brigade , which belonged to the Soviet Red Army . Kim's immediate superior was Zhou Baozhong . Kim became
1440-435: A five-year national economic plan (akin to Soviet Union's five-year plans ) to establish a command economy , with all industry owned by the state and all agriculture collectivized . The economy was focused on heavy industry and arms production. By the 1960s, North Korea enjoyed a standard of living which was higher than the standard of living in the South, which was fraught with political instability and economic crises . In
1584-497: A foreign policy based upon proletarian internationalism at the Conference of Party Representatives in 1966, the WPK leadership had never explicitly broken with proletarian internationalism as it did at the 6th Congress. In theory, a communist party supports policy contributing to the world revolution . Communist regimes rarely lived up to this ideal; by the 1950s, ideological schisms within
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#17328515551111728-488: A great leader it argues. This ideological outlook may explain why Kim Il Sung appointed his son, Kim Jong Il, as his successor. In North Korea, Kim Il Sung was considered a "Great Leader" with a decisive role; he was cited by official media as the man who established the WPK and founder of the Juche idea. Because of this, Kim Il Sung was not "elected" WPK General Secretary; the position was bestowed on him by divine right . For
1872-506: A large army skilled in infiltration tactics and guerrilla warfare. Prior to Kim's invasion of the South in 1950, which triggered the Korean War, Stalin equipped the KPA with modern, Soviet-built medium tanks, trucks, artillery, and small arms. Kim also formed an air force, equipped at first with Soviet-built propeller-driven fighters and attack aircraft. Later, North Korean pilot candidates were sent to
2016-541: A later founder effect diminished the internal variety of both language families. Since the establishment of two independent governments, North–South differences have developed in standard Korean, including variations in pronunciation and vocabulary chosen. However, these minor differences can be found in any of the Korean dialects , which are still largely mutually intelligible . The Chinese language , written with Chinese characters and read with Sino-Xenic pronunciations ,
2160-538: A level unheard of anywhere else, either in past or present times, let alone in a country which calls itself socialist." He further claimed that "the leadership of the Communist Party of China has betrayed [the working people]. In Korea, too, we can say that the leadership of the Korean Workers' Party is wallowing in the same waters" and claimed that Kim Il Sung was begging for aid from other countries, especially among
2304-532: A marked departure from the fundamental principles of communism, and a new orientation for the North Korean future in the 1980s." In contrast to other ruling communist parties in socialist states , democratic centralism in the WPK did not hold the leader (the WPK General Secretary ) accountable. In many ways it functioned the other way around, with the WPK accountable to the leader. This unusual system
2448-551: A member of the pro-Japanese and anti-communist Minsaengdan. A purge resulted: over 1,000 Koreans were expelled from the CCP, including Kim (who was arrested in late 1933 and exonerated in early 1934), and 500 were killed. Kim Il Sung's memoirs – and those of the guerrillas who fought alongside him – cite Kim's seizing and burning the suspect files of the Purge Committee as key to solidifying his leadership. After
2592-437: A new offensive, retaking Seoul and advanced north once again halting at a point just north of the 38th Parallel . After a series of offensives and counter-offensives by both sides, followed by a grueling period of largely static trench warfare that lasted from the summer of 1951 to July 1953, the front was stabilized along what eventually became the permanent " Armistice Line " of 27 July 1953. Over 2.5 million people died during
2736-482: A number of reforms. Over 50% of the arable land was redistributed, an 8-hour work day was proclaimed and all heavy industry was to be nationalized . There were improvements in the health of the population after he nationalized healthcare and made it available to all citizens. Archival material suggests that North Korea's decision to invade South Korea was Kim's initiative, not a Soviet one. Evidence suggests that Soviet intelligence , through its espionage sources in
2880-776: A part of Kim's vast network of abusive penal and forced labor institutions , were fenced and heavily guarded colonies which were located in mountainous areas of the country, where prisoners were forced to perform back-breaking labor such as logging, mining, and picking crops. Most of the prisoners were incarcerated in these camps for their entire lives, and inside the camps, their living and working conditions were usually deadly. For example, prisoners were nearly starved to death, they were denied medical care, they were denied proper housing and clothes, they were subjected to sexual violence, they were regularly mistreated, and they were tortured and executed by guards. Despite his opposition to de-Stalinization, Kim never officially severed relations with
3024-513: A possible relationship.) Hudson & Robbeets (2020) suggested that there are traces of a pre- Nivkh substratum in Korean. According to the hypothesis, ancestral varieties of Nivkh (also known as Amuric ) were once distributed on the Korean Peninsula before the arrival of Koreanic speakers. Korean syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), consisting of an optional onset consonant, glide /j, w, ɰ/ and final coda /p, t, k, m, n, ŋ, l/ surrounding
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#17328515551113168-729: A recess on 11 October. Compared to its predecessor, the 6th Congress was fairly short. It began with opening addresses by Kim Il Sung, the Executive Bureau, the Secretariat and the Credentials Committee. After the opening remarks, the congress' agenda was decided: "(1) Summing up the work of the Party Central Committee ; (2) Evaluation of the work of the Party Central Auditing Committee ; (3) Revision of
3312-414: A similar agenda can join the struggle and that "even a religionist ... must be enrolled in our ranks without hesitation." Kim Il Sung married twice. His first wife, Kim Jong Suk (1917–1949), gave birth to two sons and one daughter before her death in childbirth during the delivery of a stillborn girl. Kim Jong Il was his oldest son. The other son ( Kim Man-il , or Shaura Kim) of this marriage died in 1947 in
3456-508: A speech Kim allegedly made before a meeting of Young Communist League delegates on 20 May 1931 in Yenchi County in Manchuria, he warned the delegates against such unplanned uprisings as the 30 May 1930 uprising in eastern Manchuria. Four months later, on 18 September 1931, the " Mukden Incident " occurred, in which a relatively weak dynamite explosive charge went off near a Japanese railroad in
3600-479: A summary of what had been decided: "(a) Shining victory of the Three Revolutions —achievements in ideological, technological and cultural revolutions; (b) Conversion of entire society along the lines of Juche idea; (c) Independent and peaceful reunification of the fatherland; (d) Strengthening of the solidarity with the anti-imperialist self-reliant forces ; (e) strengthening of Party work." The 1st plenum of
3744-509: A swimming accident. A daughter, Kim Kyong-hui , was born in 1946. Korean language Korean ( South Korean : 한국어 , Hanguk-eo ; North Korean : 조선어 , Chosŏnŏ ) is the native language for about 81 million people, mostly of Korean descent. It is the national language of both North Korea and South Korea . Beyond Korea, the language is recognized as a minority language in parts of China , namely Jilin , and specifically Yanbian Prefecture , and Changbai County . It
3888-608: A ten-day mourning period was declared by Kim Jong Il. His funeral was scheduled to be held on 17 July 1994 in Pyongyang but was delayed until 19 July. It was attended by hundreds of thousands of people who were flown into the city from all over North Korea. Kim Il Sung's body was placed in a public mausoleum at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun , where his preserved and embalmed body lies under a glass coffin for viewing purposes. His head rests on
4032-494: A traditional Korean pillow and he is covered by the flag of the Workers' Party of Korea. Newsreel video of the funeral at Pyongyang was broadcast on several networks and can now be found on various websites. Kim Il Sung's most notable contribution to political theory is his conceptualization of the Juche idea, originally described as a variant of Marxism–Leninism . In his writings, Kim engaged with Karl Marx's metaphor that religion
4176-621: Is also spoken by Sakhalin Koreans in parts of Sakhalin , the Russian island just north of Japan, and by the Koryo-saram in parts of Central Asia . The language has a few extinct relatives which—along with the Jeju language (Jejuan) of Jeju Island and Korean itself—form the compact Koreanic language family . Even so, Jejuan and Korean are not mutually intelligible . The linguistic homeland of Korean
4320-656: Is an agglutinative language . The Korean language is traditionally considered to have nine parts of speech . Modifiers generally precede the modified words, and in the case of verb modifiers, can be serially appended. The sentence structure or basic form of a Korean sentence is subject–object–verb (SOV), but the verb is the only required and immovable element and word order is highly flexible, as in many other agglutinative languages. Question 가게에 gage-e store- LOC 가셨어요? ga-syeo-sseo-yo go- HON . PAST - CONJ - POL 가게에 가셨어요? gage-e ga-syeo-sseo-yo store-LOC go-HON.PAST-CONJ-POL 'Did [you] go to
4464-519: Is another practice of Kim Il Sung which persists to the present day. Kim Il Sung planned these operations to seize persons who could be used to support North Korea's overseas intelligence operations, or those who had technical skills to maintain the socialist state's economic infrastructure in farms, construction, hospitals, and heavy industry. According to the Korean War Abductees Family Union (KWAFU), those abducted by North Korea after
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4608-511: Is closer to a near-open central vowel ( [ɐ] ), though ⟨a⟩ is still used for tradition. Grammatical morphemes may change shape depending on the preceding sounds. Examples include -eun/-neun ( -은/-는 ) and -i/-ga ( -이/-가 ). Sometimes sounds may be inserted instead. Examples include -eul/-reul ( -을/-를 ), -euro/-ro ( -으로/-로 ), -eseo/-seo ( -에서/-서 ), -ideunji/-deunji ( -이든지/-든지 ) and -iya/-ya ( -이야/-야 ). Some verbs may also change shape morphophonemically. Korean
4752-482: Is estimated to include more than 200,000 people. The vast majority of disappearances occurred or were linked to the Korean War, but hundreds of South Koreans and Japanese people were abducted between the 1960s and 1980s. A number of South Koreans and nationals of the People's Republic of China have also been apparently abducted in the 2000s and 2010s. At least 100,000 people remain disappeared. The Constitution of North Korea
4896-399: Is mainly reserved for specific circumstances such as newspapers, scholarly papers and disambiguation. Today Hanja is largely unused in everyday life but is still important for historical and linguistic studies. The Korean names for the language are based on the names for Korea used in both South Korea and North Korea. The English word "Korean" is derived from Goryeo , which is thought to be
5040-399: Is of faucalized consonants. They are produced with a partially constricted glottis and additional subglottal pressure in addition to tense vocal tract walls, laryngeal lowering, or other expansion of the larynx. /s/ is aspirated [sʰ] and becomes an alveolo-palatal [ɕʰ] before [j] or [i] for most speakers (but see North–South differences in the Korean language ). This occurs with
5184-494: Is rooted in North Korea's leader theory . In contrast to other socialist states (which upheld the orthodox communist belief that the masses are masters of historical development), WPK ideology asserts that the masses can only initiate revolutionary change through a leader. While other socialist states often emphasized certain historical figures, due weight was still given to the people. The opposite occurred in North Korea, where
5328-525: Is significant for its large number of delegations: 177 delegations from 118 countries were represented. While communist and workers' parties customarily invite "fraternal parties" to party congresses, the WPK had taken the unusual step of not inviting foreign delegations to the 1st, 2nd and 5th congresses. Among those invited this time were the Chinese Communist Party and the Communist Party of
5472-532: Is suggested to be somewhere in contemporary Manchuria . The hierarchy of the society from which the language originates deeply influences the language, leading to a system of speech levels and honorifics indicative of the formality of any given situation. Modern Korean is written in the Korean script ( 한글 ; Hangeul in South Korea, 조선글 ; Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea), a system developed during
5616-441: Is the opium of the people . He did so both in the context of responding to his comrades who objected to working with religious groups (Chonbulygo and Chondoism , respectively). In the first instance, Kim replies that a person is "mistaken" if he or she believes Marx's proposition regarding "opium of the people" can be applied in all instances, explaining that if a religion "prays for dealing out divine punishment to Japan and blessing
5760-575: Is unlikely to be true. Several witnesses knew Kim before and after his time in the Soviet Union, including his superior, Zhou Baozhong , who dismissed the claim of a "second" Kim in his diaries. Historian Bruce Cumings pointed out that Japanese officers from the Kwantung Army have attested to his fame as a resistance figure. On August 12, 2009, Yonhap News Agency revealed that U.S. Army Military Government in Korea had already acknowledged that Kim Il Sung
5904-716: Is well attested in Western Old Japanese and Northern Ryukyuan languages , in Eastern Old Japanese it only occurs in compounds, and it is only present in three dialects of the Southern Ryukyuan language group . Also, the doublet wo meaning "hemp" is attested in Western Old Japanese and Southern Ryukyuan languages. It is thus plausible to assume a borrowed term. (See Classification of the Japonic languages or Comparison of Japanese and Korean for further details on
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6048-523: The yangban aristocracy, who looked down upon it too easy to learn. However, it gained widespread use among the common class and was widely used to print popular novels which were enjoyed by the common class. Since few people could understand official documents written in classical Chinese, Korean kings sometimes released public notices entirely written in Hangul as early as the 16th century for all Korean classes, including uneducated peasants and slaves. By
6192-460: The songbun , a caste system in which the North Korean people were divided into three groups. Each person was classified as belonging to the "core", "wavering", or "hostile" class, based on his or her political, social, and economic background—this caste system persists today. Songbun was used to decide all aspects of a person's existence in North Korean society, including access to education, housing, employment, food rationing, ability to join
6336-514: The 6th WPK Congress in 1980, his oldest son Kim Jong Il was elected to be a Presidium member and chosen to be his successor, thus establishing the Kim dynasty . Kim was born Kim Song Ju to father Kim Hyong Jik and mother Kang Pan Suk . Kim had two younger brothers, Kim Chul Ju [ ko ] and Kim Yong-ju . Kim Chul Ju died while fighting the Japanese and Kim Yong-ju came to be involved in
6480-703: The Clinton administration over its nuclear program. To the astonishment of the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency , Kim agreed to halt his nuclear research program and seemed to be embarking upon a new opening to the West. Shortly before noon on 7 July 1994, Kim Il Sung collapsed from a heart attack at his residence in Hyangsan , North Pyongan . After the heart attack, Kim Jong Il ordered
6624-525: The Communist Party of Korea . Originally, the Soviets preferred Cho Man-sik to lead a popular front government, but Cho refused to support a UN-backed trusteeship and clashed with Kim. General Terentii Shtykov , who led the Soviet occupation of northern Korea, supported Kim over Pak Hon-yong to lead the Provisional People's Committee for North Korea on 8 February 1946. As chairman of the committee, Kim
6768-631: The Party Rules and (4) Election of the central leading agencies of the Party." This was followed by a report on the Central Committee's performance since the 5th Congress. The 6th Congress was adjourned on 11 October, and 12 October began with the election of a committee to draft congressional decisions. Lee Nak-bin then delivered a report on the work of the Central Auditing Committee since
6912-570: The Proto-Koreanic language , which is generally suggested to have its linguistic homeland somewhere in Manchuria . Whitman (2012) suggests that the proto-Koreans, already present in northern Korea, expanded into the southern part of the Korean Peninsula at around 300 BC and coexisted with the descendants of the Japonic Mumun cultivators (or assimilated them). Both had influence on each other and
7056-557: The Three Kingdoms of Korea (not the ancient confederacies in the southern Korean Peninsula), while " -eo " and " -mal " mean "language" and "speech", respectively. Korean is also simply referred to as guk-eo , literally "national language". This name is based on the same Han characters ( 國語 "nation" + "language") that are also used in Taiwan and Japan to refer to their respective national languages. In North Korea and China ,
7200-848: The Yalu River late in 1950. At the outset of the war in June and July, North Korean forces captured Seoul and occupied most of the South, save for a small section of territory in the southeast region of the South that was called the Pusan Perimeter . But in September, the North Koreans were driven back by the US-led counterattack that started with the UN landing in Incheon , followed by a combined South Korean-US-UN offensive from
7344-586: The "Tiger". The Japanese "Maeda Unit" was sent to hunt him in February 1940. Later in 1940, the Japanese kidnapped a woman named Kim Hye-sun, believed to have been Kim Il Sung's first wife. After using her as a hostage to try to convince the Korean guerrillas to surrender, she was killed. Kim was appointed commander of the 2nd operational region for the 1st Army, but by the end of 1940 he was the only 1st Army leader still alive. Pursued by Japanese troops, in late 1940, Kim and
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#17328515551117488-473: The 15th century for that purpose, although it did not become the primary script until the 20th century. The script uses 24 basic letters ( jamo ) and 27 complex letters formed from the basic ones. When first recorded in historical texts, Korean was only a spoken language . Since the turn of the 21st century, aspects of Korean culture have spread to other countries through globalization and cultural exports . As such, interest in Korean language acquisition (as
7632-814: The 17th century, the yangban had exchanged Hangul letters with slaves, which suggests a high literacy rate of Hangul during the Joseon era. In the context of growing Korean nationalism in the 19th century, the Gabo Reform of 1894 abolished the Confucian examinations and decreed that government documents would be issued in Hangul instead of literary Chinese. Some newspapers were published entirely in Hangul, but other publications used Korean mixed script , with Hanja for Sino-Korean vocabulary and Hangul for other elements. North Korea abolished Hanja in writing in 1949, but continues to teach them in schools. Their usage in South Korea
7776-570: The 1956 August faction incident , Kim Il Sung successfully resisted Soviet and Chinese efforts to depose him in favor of pro-Soviet Koreans or Koreans who belonged to the pro-Chinese Yan'an faction. The last Chinese troops withdrew from the country in October 1958, which is the consensus as the latest date when North Korea became effectively independent, though some scholars believe that the 1956 August incident demonstrated North Korea's independence. During his rise and his consolidation of power, Kim created
7920-522: The 1970s, Kim developed a calcinosis growth on the right side of the back of his neck. It was long believed that its close proximity to his brain and spinal cord made it inoperable. However, Juan Reinaldo Sánchez, a defected bodyguard for Fidel Castro who met Kim in 1986 wrote later that it was Kim's own paranoia that prevented it from being operated on. Because of its unappealing nature, North Korean reporters and photographers were required to photograph Kim while standing slightly to his left in order to hide
8064-706: The 1980s. The practical effect of Juche was to cut the country off from virtually all foreign trade in order to make it entirely self-reliant . The economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping in China from 1979 onward meant that trade with the moribund economy of North Korea held decreasing interest for China. The Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe and the dissolution of the Soviet Union , from 1989 to 1992, completed North Korea's virtual isolation. These events led to mounting economic difficulties because Kim refused to issue any economic or political reforms. As he aged, starting in
8208-440: The 5th Congress. The rest of the day was spent discussing the Central Committee report. 13 October was devoted to debates and congratulatory speeches, and on 14 October the congress elected the 6th Central Committee and the 6th Central Auditing Commission . Significant at the 6th Congress was the generational shift within the WPK, with Kim Il Sung planning to formalize the position of Kim Jong Il. 248 members were elected to
8352-525: The 6th Central Committee, to elect the central party leadership, was held immediately after the 6th Congress. 34 members were elected to the 6th Politburo, an increase from 15 in the 5th Politburo . Of these 34, 19 were full members and 15 candidate members. Five members were elected to the Presidium, and Kim Jong Il was ranked fourth in the hierarchy of the Politburo and the Presidium. The 6th Secretariat
8496-457: The 6th Central Committee: 145 full members and 103 candidate members. This was an increase of 76 members from the 5th Central Committee, which had 172 members. The expansion of the Central Committee is a sign of an expanding party, since one Central Committee member represents 10,000 party members. Of the 248 members, "139 (60 full members and 79 candidate members)" were new to the Central Committee. However, compared to previous Central Committees
8640-422: The 6th Congress, Kim Jong Il (called the "Party centre" by North Korean media) became the second-most-powerful man in North Korea. The choice of Kim Jong Il as Kim Il Sung's successor met with considerable criticism. Critics accused Kim Il Sung of creating a dynasty, turning North Korea into a feudal state . An anonymous South Korean critic said, "Hereditary succession of power [was an] inevitable consequence of
8784-643: The Central Committee at previous congresses. Amendments to Party rules changed the name of the Political Committee back to its original name (the Politburo ), and created a Presidium within the Politburo to further centralize the power of the ruling elite. Of the 158 delegates with speaking rights, 39 participated in the debates—much-lower participation than at the 5th Congress, in which 98 of 137 delegates with speaking rights participated. All debate participants were Party bureaucrats and technocrats , making it
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#17328515551118928-452: The Eastern Bloc and non-aligned countries like Yugoslavia . As a result, relations between North Korea and Albania would remain cold and tense right up until Hoxha's death in 1985. Although a resolute anti-communist, Zaire 's Mobutu Sese Seko was also heavily influenced by Kim's style of rule. The North Korean government's practice of abducting foreign nationals, such as South Koreans , Japanese , Chinese , Thais , and Romanians ,
9072-399: The Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula (which had begun on 29 August 1910). Japanese repression of Korean opposition was harsh, resulting in the arrest and detention of more than 52,000 Korean citizens in 1912 alone. This repression had forced many Korean families to flee the Korean peninsula, and settle in Manchuria. Nevertheless, Kim's parents, especially his mother, played a role in
9216-408: The Japanese ran high in Manchuria, but as of May 1930 the Japanese had not yet occupied Manchuria. On 30 May 1930, a spontaneous violent uprising in eastern Manchuria arose in which peasants attacked some local villages in the name of resisting "Japanese aggression". The authorities easily suppressed this impromptu uprising. Because of the attack, the Japanese began to plan an occupation of Manchuria. In
9360-732: The Japanese, completely ignoring the assistance of the Chinese People's Volunteers . In addition, Li stated that in the process of agricultural collectivization, grain was being forcibly confiscated from the peasants, leading to "at least 300 suicides" and he also stated that Kim made nearly all major policy decisions and appointments himself. Li reported that over 30,000 people were in prison for completely unjust and arbitrary reasons which were as trivial as not printing Kim Il Sung's portrait on sufficient quality paper or using newspapers with his picture to wrap parcels. Grain confiscation and tax collection were also conducted with force, which consisted of violence, beatings, and threats of imprisonment. During
9504-444: The Korean Communist Party, was purged and executed in 1955. Choe Chang-ik appears to have been purged as well. Yi Sang-Cho, North Korea's ambassador to the Soviet Union and a critic of Kim who defected to the Soviet Union in 1956, was declared a factionalist and a traitor. The 1955 Juche speech , which stressed Korean independence, debuted in the context of Kim's power struggle against leaders such as Pak, who had Soviet backing. This
9648-401: The Korean War. Chinese and Russian documents from that time reveal that Kim became increasingly desperate to establish a truce, since the likelihood that further fighting would successfully unify Korea under his rule became more remote with the UN and US presence. Kim also resented the Chinese taking over the majority of the fighting in his country, with Chinese forces stationed at the center of
9792-425: The Korean nation" then it is a "patriotic religion" and its believers are patriots. In the second, Kim states that Marx's metaphor "must not be construed radically and unilaterally" because Marx was warning against "the temptation of a religious mirage and not opposing believers in general." Because the communist movement in Korea was fighting a struggle for "national salvation" against Japan, Kim writes that anyone with
9936-545: The New People's Party of Korea to form the Workers' Party of North Korea, with Kim as vice-chairman. In 1949, the Workers' Party of North Korea merged with its southern counterpart to become the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) with Kim as party chairman . By 1949, Kim and the communists had consolidated their rule in North Korea. Around this time, Kim began promoting an intense personality cult . The first of many statues of him appeared, and he began calling himself "Great Leader". In February 1946, Kim Il Sung decided to introduce
10080-440: The North Korean government; he was considered as an heir to his brother before he fell out of favor. Kim's family, part of the Jeonju Kim clan , is said to have originated in Jeonju , North Jeolla Province . In 1860, his great-grandfather, Kim Ŭngu, settled in the Mangyongdae neighborhood of Pyongyang. Kim was reportedly born in the small village of Mangyungbong (then called Namni) near Pyongyang on 15 April 1912. According to
10224-422: The Pusan Perimeter. By October, UN forces had retaken Seoul and invaded the North to reunify the country under the South. On 19 October, US and South Korean troops captured P'yŏngyang, forcing Kim and his government to flee north, first to Sinuiju and eventually into Kanggye . On 25 October 1950, after sending various warnings of their intent to intervene if UN forces did not halt their advance, Chinese troops in
10368-629: The Soviet MVD , Kim was essentially "created from zero". For one, his Korean was marginal at best; he only had eight years of formal education, all of it in Chinese. He needed considerable coaching to read a speech (which the MVD prepared for him) at a Communist Party congress three days after he arrived. In December 1945, the Soviets installed Kim as first secretary of the North Korean Branch Bureau of
10512-487: The Soviet Union . The WPK leadership also invited a number of non-communist parties and organizations to the congress. The official report said that 155 foreign organizations from 105 countries attended the congress, indicating that 22 delegations remained incognito . For unknown reasons, no foreign delegates spoke at the congress. The 6th Congress was held at the February 8 House of Culture from 10 to 14 October 1980, with
10656-532: The Soviet Union and China to train in MiG-15 jet aircraft at secret bases. Several sources claim the name "Kim Il Sung" had previously been used by a prominent early leader of the Korean resistance , Kim Kyung-cheon . The Soviet officer Grigory Mekler , who worked with Kim during the Soviet occupation , said that Kim took this name from a former commander who had died. However, historian Andrei Lankov has argued that this
10800-687: The Soviet Union, and he did not take part in the Sino-Soviet split . After Khrushchev was replaced by Leonid Brezhnev in 1964, Kim's relations with the Soviet Union became closer. At the same time, Kim was increasingly alienated by Mao's unstable style of leadership, especially during the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s. Kim in turn was denounced by Mao's Red Guards . At the same time, Kim reinstated relations with most of Eastern Europe's communist countries, primarily with Erich Honecker 's East Germany and Nicolae Ceaușescu 's Romania . Ceaușescu
10944-481: The Soviets held elections of their own in their northern occupation zone on 25 August 1948 for a Supreme People's Assembly . The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was proclaimed on 9 September 1948, with Kim as the Soviet-designated premier. On 12 October, the Soviet Union recognized Kim's government as the sovereign government of the entire peninsula, including the south. The Communist Party merged with
11088-628: The US government and British SIS , had obtained information on the limitations of US atomic bomb stockpiles as well as defense program cuts, leading Stalin to conclude that the Truman administration would not intervene in Korea. China acquiesced only reluctantly to the idea of Korean reunification after being told by Kim that Stalin had approved the action. The Chinese did not provide North Korea with direct military support (other than logistics channels) until United Nations troops, largely US forces, had nearly reached
11232-627: The USSR and the Eastern Bloc until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. The resulting loss of economic aid negatively affected North Korea's economy, contributing to widespread famine in 1994. During this period, North Korea also remained critical of the United States defense force 's presence in the region, which it considered imperialist , having seized the American ship USS Pueblo in 1968. This
11376-531: The WPK leadership named three conditions for North Korea to join the DCRK: (1) Social democratization of South Korea, the ouster of its current ruling class, repeal of the Anti-Communist and National Security Laws and replacement of its military regime by a democratic one representing the will of the people; (2) Reducing tensions with the establishment of a truce and a peace agreement; (3) Reducing American interference in
11520-508: The absence of a nation. Whether we uphold nationalism, communism, or any other ideology we must recover our nationhood first." —Party secretary Kim Jung-rin, on North Korea's unification ideology The 6th Congress signified a move away from orthodox communism , with the Juche given primacy over Marxism–Leninism ; in foreign relations, an independent national policy was given primacy over proletarian internationalism . According to political analyst Kim Nam-sik , "They [changes] represent
11664-401: The age of 24, controlling a few hundred men in a group that came to be known as "Kim Il Sung's division". On 4 June 1937, he led 200 guerrillas in a raid on Poch'onbo , destroying the local government offices and setting fire to a Japanese police station and post office. The success of the raid demonstrated Kim's talents as a military leader. Even more significant than the military success itself
11808-572: The anti-Japanese struggle that was sweeping the peninsula. Their exact involvement – whether their cause was missionary, nationalist, or both – is unclear. North Korean government sources credit Kim with founding the Down-with-Imperialism Union in 1926. He attended Whasung Military Academy in 1926, but found the academy's training methods outdated and quit it in 1927. He then attended Yuwen Middle School in China 's Jilin province until 1930, when he rejected
11952-455: The beginnings of words. /l/ becomes alveolar flap [ɾ] between vowels, and [l] or [ɭ] at the end of a syllable or next to another /l/ . A written syllable-final ' ㄹ ', when followed by a vowel or a glide ( i.e. , when the next character starts with ' ㅇ '), migrates to the next syllable and thus becomes [ɾ] . Traditionally, /l/ was disallowed at the beginning of a word. It disappeared before [j] , and otherwise became /n/ . However,
12096-480: The big powers. Kim Il Sung called for the establishment of the "Democratic Confederal Republic of Korea" (DCRK), a national government of North and South Korea. The DCRK would be ruled by a Supreme Confederal National Congress (SCNC), with an equal number of representatives from North and South Korea. The SCNC representatives would elect a Presidium, which would rule on its behalf. Under this system, South Korea would remain capitalist and North Korea socialist. However,
12240-527: The congress, without the right to speak. The congress saw the reappointment of Kim Il Sung as WPK General Secretary and the Presidium of the Politburo established as the highest organ of the party between congresses. At this congress, Kim Il Sung designated his son Kim Jong Il as his successor. The move was criticized by the South Korean media and ruling communist parties of the Eastern Bloc because it
12384-406: The destruction of the suspect files and the rehabilitation of suspects, those who had fled the purge rallied around Kim. As historian Suzy Kim summarizes, Kim Il Sung "emerged from the purge as a definitive leader, not only for the bold move but also for his compassion." In 1935, Kim took the name Kim Il Sung , meaning "Kim become the sun". Kim was appointed commander of the 6th division in 1937, at
12528-506: The elder Kim's irrevocable commitment to the dream of founding a dynasty of his own and of his family", adding that Kim Jong Il's rise to power was proof of the "degeneration" of the WPK into a "thoroughly personalized family affair built up around a personality cult ." The Communist Party of the Soviet Union , the Chinese Communist Party and other ruling parties of socialist states did not approve Kim Jong Il's appointment as heir apparent. Kim Il Sung's choice of successor arguably concerned
12672-409: The ensuing years, Kim established himself as an independent leader of international communism . In 1956, he joined Mao in the " anti-revisionist " camp, which did not accept Nikita Khrushchev 's program of de-Stalinization , yet he did not become a Maoist himself. At the same time, he consolidated his power over the Korean communist movement . Rival leaders were eliminated. Pak Hon-yong , leader of
12816-599: The feudal traditions of older-generation Koreans and became interested in communist ideologies. Seventeen-year-old Kim became the youngest member of the Korean Communist Youth Association [ ko ] , an underground Marxist organization with fewer than twenty members. It was led by Hŏ So ( 허소 ; 許笑 ), who belonged to the South Manchurian Communist Youth Association [ ko ] . The police discovered
12960-399: The first Korean dynasty known to Western nations. Korean people in the former USSR refer to themselves as Koryo-saram or Koryo-in (literally, " Koryo/Goryeo persons"), and call the language Koryo-mal' . Some older English sources also use the spelling "Corea" to refer to the nation, and its inflected form for the language, culture and people, "Korea" becoming more popular in
13104-443: The first congress at which the "revolutionary generation" was not present. 38 topics were debated: twenty-one focused on the economy, ten on politics, five on social and cultural affairs, one on military affairs and one on possible unification with South Korea . Socialist construction , the designated primary task of the party during the 1980s, was the focal point of the discussions. The 6th Congress ended with Kim Il Sung presenting
13248-475: The front line, and the Korean People's Army being mostly restricted to the coastal flanks of the front. With the end of the Korean War, despite the failure to unify Korea under his rule, Kim Il Sung proclaimed the war a victory in the sense that he had remained in power in the north. However, the three-year war left North Korea devastated, and Kim immediately embarked on a large reconstruction effort. He launched
13392-489: The government. The North Korean ambassador to the USSR, Li Sangjo , a member of the Yan'an faction , reported that it had become a criminal offense to so much as write on Kim's picture in a newspaper and that he had been elevated to the status of Marx , Lenin , Mao , and Stalin in the communist pantheon. He also charged Kim with rewriting history so it would appear as if his guerrilla faction had single-handedly liberated Korea from
13536-483: The grenade and absorbed the blast with his body, leaving Kim and other bystanders unharmed. To solidify his control, Kim established the Korean People's Army (KPA), aligned with the Communist Party, and he recruited a cadre of guerrillas and former soldiers who had gained combat experience in battles against the Japanese and later against Nationalist Chinese troops. Using Soviet advisers and equipment, Kim constructed
13680-532: The group three weeks after it formed in 1929, and jailed Kim for several months. Kim's formal education ended after his arrest and imprisonment. In 1931, Kim joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – the Communist Party of Korea had been founded in 1925, but had been thrown out of the Communist International in the early 1930s for being too nationalist. He joined various anti-Japanese guerrilla groups in northern China. Feelings against
13824-426: The growth from official photographs and newsreels. Hiding the growth became increasingly difficult as the growth reached the size of a baseball by the late 1980s. To ensure a full succession of leadership to his son and designated successor Kim Jong Il, Kim turned over his chairmanship of North Korea's National Defense Commission – the body mainly responsible for control of the armed forces as well as
13968-416: The highest organs of power: the Presidium and the Politburo. The plenum saw the disappearance of Kim Yong-ju (Kim Il Sung's brother, considered his chosen successor before Kim Jong Il), Kim Dong-gyu , Ryu Jang-sik and Ri Yong-mu from important party positions. The reason for the purge is unknown, but presumably linked to Kim Il Sung's time-consuming consolidation of his son's power base. Kim Yong-ju
14112-479: The inflow of western loanwords changed the trend, and now word-initial /l/ (mostly from English loanwords) are pronounced as a free variation of either [ɾ] or [l] . All obstruents (plosives, affricates, fricatives) at the end of a word are pronounced with no audible release , [p̚, t̚, k̚] . Plosive sounds /p, t, k/ become nasals [m, n, ŋ] before nasal sounds. Hangul spelling does not reflect these assimilatory pronunciation rules, but rather maintains
14256-514: The invasion of South Korea in 1950, triggering an intervention in defense of South Korea by the United Nations led by the United States. Following the military stalemate in the Korean War , a ceasefire was signed in July 1953 . He was the third-longest serving non-royal head of state/government in the 20th century, in office for more than 45 years. Under his leadership, North Korea was established as
14400-408: The issue between Japanese and Korean, including Alexander Vovin, have argued that the indicated similarities are not due to any genetic relationship , but rather to a sprachbund effect and heavy borrowing, especially from Ancient Korean into Western Old Japanese . A good example might be Middle Korean sàm and Japanese asá , meaning " hemp ". This word seems to be a cognate, but although it
14544-563: The language is most often called Joseon-mal , or more formally, Joseon-o . This is taken from the North Korean name for Korea (Joseon), a name retained from the Joseon dynasty until the proclamation of the Korean Empire , which in turn was annexed by the Empire of Japan . In mainland China , following the establishment of diplomatic relations with South Korea in 1992, the term Cháoxiǎnyǔ or
14688-451: The late 1800s. In South Korea the Korean language is referred to by many names including hanguk-eo ("Korean language"), hanguk-mal ("Korean speech") and uri-mal ("our language"); " hanguk " is taken from the name of the Korean Empire ( 대한제국 ; 大韓帝國 ; Daehan Jeguk ). The " han " ( 韓 ) in Hanguk and Daehan Jeguk is derived from Samhan , in reference to
14832-591: The leadership in South Korea. These efforts culminated in an attempt to storm the Blue House and assassinate President Park Chung Hee . North Korean troops thus took a much more aggressive stance toward US forces in and around South Korea, engaging US Army troops in fire-fights along the Demilitarized Zone . The 1968 capture of the crew of the spy ship USS Pueblo was a part of this campaign. Albania 's Enver Hoxha (another independent-minded communist leader)
14976-636: The man who would become his mentor as a communist, Wei Zhengmin, Kim's immediate superior officer, who at the time was chairman of the Political Committee of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army. Wei reported directly to Kang Sheng , a high-ranking party member close to Mao Zedong in Yan'an , until Wei's death on 8 March 1941. Kim's actions during the Minsaengdan incident helped solidify his leadership. The CCP operating in Manchuria had become suspicious that any Korean could secretly be
15120-482: The members who outranked him had positions in other bodies (except for O Jin-ju, second-ranked member of the CMC). Below is a list of members (and their respective rankings) of the Presidium, full and candidate members of the Politburo, Secretariat and CMC: The 1st plenum saw the "revolutionary generation" retire from their executive posts , surrendering them to the new generation of Kim Jong Il; however, they still controlled
15264-487: The party line was "The great revolutionary task of the working class is pioneered and led to victory by the Leader and completed under the leadership of the Leader only." From this perspective, the revolutionary task given the working class by the other socialist regimes became the sole responsibility of the leader in North Korea. The leader theory supports one-man leadership, since all important tasks can only be accomplished by
15408-459: The population was illiterate. In the 15th century King Sejong the Great personally developed an alphabetic featural writing system , known today as Hangul , to promote literacy among the common people. Introduced in the document Hunminjeongeum , it was called eonmun ('colloquial script') and quickly spread nationwide to increase literacy in Korea. The Korean alphabet was denounced by
15552-508: The promotion of revolutionary zeal in the country (taking into account the negative treatment Joseph Stalin received from his successor ). At the congress, Kim Il Sung stressed the importance of "achieving the goal of the unification of the fatherland which has been the greatest and long-cherised desire of the whole people is the most important revolutionary task facing the Party". He warned his audience that if Korea remained divided, it might never be unified again because of relations among
15696-636: The regime that there should be no questions raised about Kim [Il Sung]'s identity." Historians generally accept the view that, while Kim's exploits were exaggerated by the personality cult which was built around him, he was a significant guerrilla leader. Despite the United Nations ' plans to conduct nationwide elections in Korea, on 15 August 1948, the US-occupied south proclaimed the Republic of Korea , which claimed sovereignty over all of Korea. In response,
15840-491: The region, holding open the possibility of improved relations with the United States if it supported Korean reunification . Man is a social being living in a community called nation, and his struggle for self-determination is waged within the boundary of a nation-state. A search for national self-determination takes top priority over other matters in a revolution of any country. A nation must exist before revolution, construction, ideology, or ideal, and they lose their meanings in
15984-486: The replacement rate was relatively low (41.4%, compared with 72.2% at the 5th Congress). Only two members have sat on the Central Committee since the 1st Central Committee : Kim il-sung and Kim Il . The cause of the high Central Committee replacement rate had been intra-party conflict, and the Yanan , South Korean, domestic and Soviet-Korean factions (as well as ideological opponents of hereditary succession) had been purged from
16128-515: The ruling party, and even where a person was allowed to live. Large numbers of people from the so-called hostile class, which included intellectuals, land owners, and former supporters of Japan's occupying government during World War II , were forcibly relocated to the country's isolated and impoverished northern provinces. When years of famine ravaged the country in the 1990s, those people who lived in its marginalized and remote communities were hardest hit. During his rule, North Korea's government
16272-569: The rumors, however, by making a series of public appearances. It has been argued, however, that the incident helped establish the order of succession – the first apparent patrilineal in a communist state – which eventually would occur upon Kim Il Sung's death in 1994. From about this time, North Korea encountered increasing economic difficulties. South Korea became an economic powerhouse fueled by Japanese and American investment, military aid, and internal economic development, while North Korea stagnated and then declined in
16416-484: The running of the government to him. The Kim family was supported by the army, due to Kim Il Sung's revolutionary record and the support of the veteran defense minister, O Chin-u . At the Sixth Party Congress in October 1980, Kim publicly designated his son as his successor. In 1986, a rumor spread that Kim had been assassinated, making the concern for Jong-il's ability to succeed his father actual. Kim dispelled
16560-512: The sake of realizing unification of the fatherland, the South and the North should not stick to their respective ideologies of communism and capitalism, but the two should put one common ideology of nation before the two ideologies so as to achieve a union based on the idea of nation. —Kim Il-Sung, emphasizing that the nation (not capitalism or communism) should be the common ideology of the two Koreas While North Korea had already begun to move from
16704-660: The short form Cháoyǔ has normally been used to refer to the standard language of North Korea and Yanbian , whereas Hánguóyǔ or the short form Hányǔ is used to refer to the standard language of South Korea. Korean is a member of the Koreanic family along with the Jeju language . Some linguists have included it in the Altaic family, but the core Altaic proposal itself has lost most of its prior support. The Khitan language has several vocabulary items similar to Korean that are not found in other Mongolian or Tungusic languages, suggesting
16848-558: The store?' Response 예/네. ye/ne AFF 6th Congress of the Workers%27 Party of Korea The 6th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) was held in the February 8 House of Culture in Pyongyang , North Korea , from 10 to 14 October 1980. The congress is the highest organ of the party, and is stipulated to be held every four years. 3,062 delegates represented the party's membership; 117 foreign delegates attended
16992-586: The supreme commandership of the country's now million-man strong military force, the Korean People's Army – to his son in 1991 and 1993. So far, the elder Kim – even though he is dead – has remained the country's president and the chairman of the Party's Central Military Commission , the party's organization that has supreme supervision and authority over military matters. In early 1994, Kim began investing in nuclear power to offset energy shortages brought on by economic problems. This
17136-448: The team of doctors who were constantly at his father's side to leave and arranged for the country's best doctors to be flown in from Pyongyang. After several hours, the doctors from Pyongyang arrived, but despite their efforts to save him, Kim Il Sung died at 02:00 am PST on 8 July 1994, aged 82. After the traditional Confucian mourning period, his death was declared 34 hours later. Kim Il Sung's death resulted in nationwide mourning and
17280-441: The tense fricative and all the affricates as well. At the end of a syllable, /s/ changes to /t/ (example: beoseot ( 버섯 ) 'mushroom'). /h/ may become a bilabial [ɸ] before [o] or [u] , a palatal [ç] before [j] or [i] , a velar [x] before [ɯ] , a voiced [ɦ] between voiced sounds, and a [h] elsewhere. /p, t, t͡ɕ, k/ become voiced [b, d, d͡ʑ, ɡ] between voiced sounds. /m, n/ frequently denasalize at
17424-714: The thousands crossed the Yalu River and entered the war as allies of the KPA. There were nevertheless tensions between Kim and the Chinese government. Kim had been warned of the likelihood of an amphibious landing at Incheon, which was ignored. There was also a sense that the North Koreans had paid little in war compared to the Chinese who had fought for their country for decades against foes with better technology. The UN troops were forced to withdraw and Chinese troops retook P'yŏngyang in December and Seoul in January 1951. In March, UN forces began
17568-524: The town of Mukden in Manchuria. Although no damage occurred, the Japanese used the incident as an excuse to send armed forces into Manchuria and to appoint a puppet government . In 1935, Kim became a member of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army , a guerrilla group led by the CCP. Kim was appointed the same year to serve as political commissar for the 3rd detachment of the second division, consisting of around 160 soldiers. Here Kim met
17712-464: The underlying, partly historical morphology . Given this, it is sometimes hard to tell which actual phonemes are present in a certain word. The traditional prohibition of word-initial /ɾ/ became a morphological rule called "initial law" ( 두음법칙 ) in the pronunciation standards of South Korea, which pertains to Sino-Korean vocabulary. Such words retain their word-initial /ɾ/ in the pronunciation standards of North Korea. For example, ^NOTE ㅏ
17856-411: The war included 2,919 civil servants, 1,613 police, 190 judicial officers and lawyers, and 424 medical practitioners. In the hijacking and seizure of Korean Airlines flight YS-11 in 1969 by North Korean agents, the pilots and mechanics, and others with specialized skills, were the only ones never permitted to return to South Korea. The total number of foreign abductees and disappeared is still unknown but
18000-400: The world communist movement made it all but impossible. From 1966 onwards, North Korea strengthened relations with neutral countries in the global Cold War . Proletarian internationalism was replaced with a national, independent foreign policy; if a socialist and non-socialist country were at war, North Korea could (in theory) support the non-socialist country if it benefited North Korea. At
18144-593: Was "the top Korean administrative leader in the North," though he was still de facto subordinate to General Shtykov until the Chinese intervention in the Korean War. On 1 March 1946, while giving a speech to commemorate an anniversary of the March First Movement , a member of the anti-communist terrorist group the White Shirts Society attempted to assassinate Kim by lobbing a grenade at his podium. However, Soviet military officer Yakov Novichenko grabbed
18288-411: Was a fierce enemy of the country and Kim Il Sung, writing in June 1977 that "genuine Marxist-Leninists " will understand that the "ideology which is guiding the Korean Workers' Party and the Communist Party of China ... is revisionist " and later that month he added that "in Pyongyang, I believe that even Tito will be astonished at the proportions of the cult of his host [Kim Il sung], which has reached
18432-531: Was believed to be Kim Il Sung's first choice as successor, and his authority increased until he became co-chairman of the North–South Coordination Committee. From late 1972 until the 6th Congress, Kim Yong-ju became an increasingly remote figure within the regime; at the 6th Congress, he lost his seats in the Politburo and on the Central Committee. However, rumors were confirmed that Kim Il Sung began grooming Kim Jong Il in 1966. From 1974 until
18576-454: Was composed of 19 members, of which Kim Jong Il ranked third (behind Kim Il Sung and O Jin-u ). This marked the first time in the party's history that the CMC membership was made public. Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il became the only officials with seats in all four bodies: the Presidium, Politburo, Secretariat and CMC. While Kim Jong Il was outranked in the Presidium, Politburo and Secretariat, none of
18720-420: Was composed of nine members, with Kim Jong Il ranked second. The size of the Secretariat did not change from the 5th Congress, but of its nine members only Kim Il Sung was from the party's "revolutionary generation" (60% of the members of the 5th Secretariat came from that generation). Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung-rin were the only incumbents to be reelected. The elected 6th Central Military Commission (CMC)
18864-504: Was considered nepotist . The congress also saw the WPK and North Korea move away from orthodox communism by emphasizing the Juche idea over Marxism–Leninism , giving the party a nationalistic bent. The next party congress was not convened until 2016 , despite party rules stipulating that a congress had to be held every fifth year. Little is known about the preparations for the 6th Congress. It
19008-406: Was convened a decade after the 5th WPK Congress (in 1970), outside the party norm of a quadrennial meeting. There was no official reason for its postponement, but it was probably due to the fact that WPK General Secretary Kim Il Sung spent much of the 1970s gathering support (and creating an independent power base) for his son and planned successor Kim Jong Il . In addition, a great deal of time
19152-487: Was first introduced to Korea in the 1st century BC, and remained the medium of formal writing and government until the late 19th century. Korean scholars adapted Chinese characters (known in Korean as Hanja ) to write their own language, creating scripts known as idu , hyangchal , gugyeol , and gakpil. These systems were cumbersome, due to the fundamental disparities between the Korean and Chinese languages, and accessible only to those educated in classical Chinese. Most of
19296-415: Was fueled by Japanese and American investment, military aid and internal economic development, while North Korea stagnated and then declined during the same period. Differences emerged between North Korea and the Soviet Union; chief among them was Kim Il Sung's philosophy of Juche , which focused on Korean nationalism and self-reliance . Despite this, the country received funds, subsidies and aid from
19440-482: Was heavily influenced by Kim's ideology, and the personality cult which grew around him in Romania was very similar to that of Kim. In the 1960s, Kim became impressed with the efforts of North Vietnamese Leader Ho Chi Minh to reunify Vietnam through guerrilla warfare and thought that something similar might be possible in Korea. Infiltration and subversion efforts were thus greatly stepped up against US forces and
19584-455: Was in fact pretended by his nephew Kim Song-ju. In 2019, investigative journalist Annie Jacobsen published the book Surprise, Kill, Vanish , which further expounded that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) once concluded that Kim Il Sung was a blackmailed imposter operated by the Soviet Union. The dossier titled "The Identity of Kim Il Sung" ascribed the leader's true identity to Kim Song-ju, an orphaned child caught stealing money from
19728-512: Was little noticed at the time until state media started talking about it in 1963. Kim developed the policy and ideology of Juche in opposition to the idea of North Korea as a satellite state of China or the Soviet Union. Kim transformed North Korea into what Wonjun Song and Joseph Wright consider a personalist dictatorship, where power was centralized in Kim personally. Kim Il Sung's cult of personality had initially been criticized by some members of
19872-536: Was part of an infiltration and subversion campaign to reunify the peninsula under North Korea's rule. Kim outlived his allies, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong , by over four and almost two decades, respectively, and remained in power during the terms of office of six South Korean Presidents and ten United States Presidents . Known as the Great Leader ( Suryong ), he established a far-reaching personality cult which dominates domestic politics in North Korea . At
20016-581: Was proclaimed on December 27, 1972, which created the position of the President of North Korea . Kim gave up his former Premier of the Cabinet position, which he had held since 1948, and became instead president, after the 1972 North Korean parliamentary election . On 14 April 1975, North Korea discontinued most formal use of its traditional units and adopted the metric system . In 1980, he decided that his son Kim Jong Il would succeed him, and increasingly delegated
20160-415: Was responsible for widespread human rights abuses . Kim Il Sung punished real and perceived dissent through purges which included public executions and enforced disappearances . Not only dissenters but their entire extended families were punished by being reduced to the lowest songbun rank, and many of them were also incarcerated in a secret system of political prison camps. These camps or kwanliso ,
20304-414: Was spent restructuring party organizations and functions. The primary reason for the 6th Congress was to formalize Kim Jong Il as Kim Il Sung's chosen successor. The 6th Congress was attended by 3,062 delegates with voting rights and 158 without them; this marked an increase of 1,349 voting and 137 non-voting delegates from the 5th Congress. The increase indicates a growth in membership. The 6th Congress
20448-600: Was succeeded by his son Kim Jong Il and was declared Eternal President . He held the posts of the Premier from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to 1994. He was the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) from 1949 to 1994 (titled as chairman from 1949 to 1966 and as general secretary after 1966). Coming to power after the end of Japanese rule over Korea in 1945 following Japan's surrender in World War II , he authorized
20592-473: Was the first of many "nuclear crises" . On 19 May 1994, Kim ordered spent fuel to be unloaded from the already disputed nuclear research facility in Yongbyon . Despite repeated chiding from Western nations, Kim continued to conduct nuclear research and carry on with the uranium enrichment program. In June 1994, former US President Jimmy Carter traveled to Pyongyang in an effort to persuade Kim to negotiate with
20736-584: Was the political coordination and organization between the guerrillas and the Korean Fatherland Restoration Association, an anti-Japanese united front group based in Manchuria. These accomplishments would grant Kim some measure of fame among Chinese guerrillas, and North Korean biographies would later exploit it as a great victory for Korea. For their part, the Japanese regarded Kim as one of the most effective and popular Korean guerrilla leaders ever. He appeared on Japanese wanted lists as
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