Kim Il Sung

Where they went

11 related events

1. 1
   1937Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army and the Battle of Bocheonbocommander

   Many Koreans fought in the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army led by the Chinese Communist Party. In June 1937 its Korean unit, helped by an underground network at home, raided the Japanese police post and other offices at Bocheonbo in Gapsan, South Hamgyong.

2. 2
   1946Land Reform in the Northleader

   The North Korean Provisional People’s Committee confiscated land without compensation and distributed it free to farmers.

3. 3
   1948North–South Negotiationsparticipant

   Opposing a separate election in the south, Kim Gu and Kim Gyu-sik met northern leaders in Pyongyang, without result.

4. 4
   1948Establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korealeader

   North of the 38th parallel, the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was established with Kim Il-sung as premier.

5. 5
   1950North Korean Invasionleader

   North Korean forces attacked across the whole 38th parallel, took Seoul in three days and drove south to the Nakdong River.

6. 6
   1953Korean Armistice Agreementrelated figure

   After more than two years of talks, the armistice was signed at Panmunjom, fixing the Military Demarcation Line and the Demilitarized Zone.

7. 7
   1956Chollima Movementleader

   A North Korean mass movement that spurred workers to compete to raise output; collectivization of farming and commerce was completed at the same time.

8. 8
   1956August Faction Incidentleader

   In North Korea, the Yan’an and Soviet factions who criticized Kim Il Sung’s personality cult were purged, cementing his one-man rule.

9. 9
   1972July 4 South–North Joint Statementrelated figure

   For the first time since division, the two Koreas agreed on three principles of unification — independence, peace and national unity — announced simultaneously in Seoul and Pyongyang.

10. 10
    1972North Korea’s Socialist Constitutionleader

    North Korea adopted a socialist constitution creating the post of president, legally entrenching Kim Il Sung’s sole rule with Juche as the ruling ideology.

11. 11
    1994Death of Kim Il Sung and the Kim Jong Il Erarelated figure

    Kim Il Sung died during the first North Korean nuclear crisis, and Kim Jong Il took over, ruling first in his father’s name and then as chairman of the National Defence Commission.

People who appear alongside

• Pak Hon-yong1900 – 1956

  Communist who rebuilt the Korean Communist Party after liberation and led the South Korean Workers' Party, became vice premier and foreign minister of North Korea in 1948 and was later purged

• Syngman Rhee1875 – 1965

  First President of the Provisional Government, who worked through diplomacy in the US; later first President of the Republic of Korea

• Kim Gu1876 – 1949

  Known as Baekbeom; founded the Korean Patriotic Organization and led the Liberation Army as Chairman of the Provisional Government

• Kim Kyu-sik1881 – 1950

  Envoy of the New Korea Youth Party to the Paris Peace Conference, later Vice-Chairman of the Provisional Government

• Park Chung-hee1917 – 1979

  5th–9th President (1963–1979). Led the May 16 coup, the five-year economic plans and the Yushin system; killed in the October 26 incident

• Kim Jong Il1941 – 2011

  Son of Kim Il Sung and leader of North Korea (1994–2011). Named successor in 1980; ruled as chairman of the National Defence Commission under "military-first" politics. North Korea gives his birth year as 1942

• Kim Young-sam1927 – 2015

  14th President (1993–1998). Introduced the real-name financial system and full local autonomy; the 1997 currency crisis came at the end of his term

Themes this person appears in

• Changes in the Land SystemAD 687 – 1950

  From nogeup to the end of office land — how the rights granted to officials shrank, and gave way to modern land ownership

• Changing Unification Policies1948 – 2018

  From “march north” to the Panmunjom Declaration — inter-Korean relations from confrontation to dialogue, through joint statements and agreements to summits (up to 2018)

• Pyongyang194 BC – 2007

  From Wanggeom-seong of Gojoseon to the inter-Korean summits — capital of Goguryeo, Western Capital of Goryeo, the great city on the Taedong

• GaeseongAD 901 – 2003

  From Wang Geon, lord of Songak, to the Kaesong Industrial Complex — Gaegyeong, Goryeo’s capital for five centuries, and home of the Song merchants

• Busan1443 – 1979

  Port of the Japan House and of the 1876 opening — Korea’s gateway to Japan, and wartime capital in the Korean War