Kim Il-sung

In 1860, his great-grandfather, Kim Ung-u, settled in the Mangyongdae neighborhood of Pyongyang.

Like most Korean families, they resented the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula (which had begun on 29 August 1910).

Kim Il Sung (, ; born Kim Sung Ju; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he led as Supreme Leader from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994.

Afterwards, he was declared eternal president.

Kim was reportedly born in the small village of Mangyungbong (then called Namni) near Pyongyang on 15 April 1912.

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 the anti-Japanese struggle that was sweeping the peninsula.

Their exact involvement – whether their cause was missionary, nationalist, or both – is unclear.

According to an official North Korean government account, Kim's family participated in anti-Japanese activities and fled to Manchuria in 1920.

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He attended Whasung Military Academy in 1926, but found the academy's training methods outdated and quit it in 1927.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 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, an underground Marxist organization with fewer than twenty members.

It was led by Hŏ So, who belonged to the South Manchurian Communist Youth Association.

Coming to power after the end of Japanese rule over Korea in 1945 following Japan's surrender in World War II, he authorized the invasion of South Korea in 1950, triggering an intervention in defense of South Korea by the United Nations led by the United States.

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).

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 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.

According to 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 in a very active Presbyterian Christian family.

His maternal grandfather was a Protestant minister, and his father had gone to a missionary school and was an elder in the Presbyterian Church.

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 (AGER-2) in 1968.

This was part of an infiltration and subversion campaign to reunify the peninsula under North Korea's rule.

Kim outlived his allies Joseph Stalin by over four decades and Mao Zedong by almost two decades 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.

The situation was reversed in the 1970s, as a newly stable South Korea became an economic powerhouse which 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.

At 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 and Kim Yong Ju.

Kim Chul Ju died while fighting the Japanese and Kim Yong Ju was involved in the North Korean government and considered an heir to his brother before falling out of favor.

Kim's family, part of the Jeonju Kim clan, is said to have originated from Jeonju, North Jeolla Province.

Despite this, the country received funds, subsidies and aid from the USSR and the Eastern Bloc until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.

The resulting loss of economic aid negatively affected the North's economy, contributing to widespread famine in 1994.