Kim Jong Suk (; 24 December 1917 – 22 September 1949) was a Korean anti-Japanese guerrilla, a Communist activist, North Korean leader Kim Il Sung's first wife, former leader Kim Jong Il's mother, and current leader Kim Jong Un's grandmother.
Biography
Kim Jong Suk was born on Christmas Eve 1917 in Hoeryong County, North Hamgyong Province, Japanese Korea. 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.
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 as a kitchen helper. 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 (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." 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."
Death
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. According to Harrold, she died from "the hardships she had endured during the years as a guerrilla fighter."
Legacy
After Kim Jong Il succeeded Kim Il Sung, he began to make his mother, Kim Jong Suk, into "a revolutionary immortal." This campaign created "a holy trinity known as the ‘Three Generals.’" 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."
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.