Kim Il Sung Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Early life == === Family background === [[File:Kim Il-sung's birthplace.jpg|thumb|The house in which Kim was born]] Kim was born Kim Song Ju to father [[Kim Hyong-jik|Kim Hyong Jik]] and mother [[Kang Pan-sok|Kang Pan Suk]]. Kim had two younger brothers, {{Ill|Kim Chul Ju|ko|๊น์ฒ ์ฃผ (๊ตฐ์ธ)}} and [[Kim Yong-ju|Kim Yong Ju]].<ref name=Suh1988>{{cite book | last = Suh | first = Dae-sook | title = Kim Il Sung: The North Korean Leader | location = New York | publisher = Columbia University Press | year = 1988 | isbn = 0231065736 | url = https://archive.org/details/00book729884 }}</ref>{{rp|3}} Kim Chul Ju died while fighting the [[Japanese occupation of Korea|Japanese]] and Kim Yong Ju was involved in the North Korean government and considered an heir to his brother before falling out of favor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=80th Anniversary Of The Birth Of Kim Chol Ju Minisheet 1996 |url=https://www.propagandaworld.org/product-page/80th-anniversary-of-the-birth-of-kim-chol-ju-minisheet-1996 |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=Propagandaworld |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoare |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZI-6NARaLusC&dq=Kim+Yong-ju+1920&pg=PA226 |title=Historical Dictionary of Democratic People's Republic of Korea |date=2012-07-13 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-6151-0 |language=en}}</ref> Kim's family, part of the [[Jeonju Kim clan]], is said to have originated from [[Jeonju]], [[North Jeolla Province]]. In 1860, his great-grandfather, Kim Ung-u, settled in the [[Mangyongdae]] neighborhood of Pyongyang. Kim was reportedly born in the small village of [[Mangyongdae-guyok|Mangyungbong]] (then called Namni) near Pyongyang on 15 April 1912.<ref name="dailynk.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=11335&cataId=nk03600 |title=Soviet Officer Reveals Secrets of Mangyongdae |work=[[Daily NK]] |access-date=15 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140211183034/http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=11335&cataId=nk03600 |archive-date=11 February 2014 |date=2 January 2014 }}</ref><ref name="BaikBong1">{{Cite book | author=Baik Bong | title=Kim il Sung: Volume I: From Birth to Triumphant Return to Homeland | publisher=Dar Al-talia | location=Beirut, Lebanon | year=1973| author-link=Baik Bong }}</ref>{{rp|12}} 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.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Andrei Lankov]] |title=The DPRK yesterday and today. Informal history of North Korea |url=https://www.litmir.me/br/?b=243895&p=1 |page=[https://www.litmir.me/br/?b=243895&p=73 73] |date=2004 |publisher=ะะพััะพะบ-ะะฐะฟะฐะด (English: East-West) |location=Moscow |id=243895 |access-date=13 May 2020 |archive-date=2 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802205207/https://www.litmir.me/br/?b=243895&p=1 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|73}} [[File:Kim Il-sung in 1927.jpg|thumb|upright|left|1927 portrait of Kim, published in his autobiography ''[[With the Century]]'']] According to Kim, his family was always a step away from poverty. Kim said that he was raised in a very active [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] Christian family. His maternal grandfather was a Protestant [[Minister (Christianity)|minister]], and his father had gone to a missionary school and was an elder in the Presbyterian Church.<ref>[http://www.kimjongiliathemovie.com/learnmore.html Kimjongilia โ The Movie โ Learn More] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100918043045/http://www.kimjongiliathemovie.com/learnmore.html |date=18 September 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-rage-against-god-by-peter-hitchens-1965109.html |location=London |work=The Independent |title=The Rage Against God, By Peter Hitchens |first=Sholto |last=Byrnes |date=7 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100512025421/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-rage-against-god-by-peter-hitchens-1965109.html |archive-date=12 May 2010 }}</ref> 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 the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula (which had begun on 29 August 1910).<ref name="BaikBong1"/>{{rp|12}} Japanese repression of Korean opposition was harsh, resulting in the arrest and detention of more than 52,000 Korean citizens in 1912 alone.<ref name="BaikBong1" />{{rp|13}} This repression had forced many Korean families to flee the Korean peninsula, and settle in Manchuria.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sohn |first=Won Tai |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Hz119vPQYwC&pg=PA43 |title=Kim Il Sung and Korea's Struggle: An Unconventional Firsthand History |publisher=McFarland |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7864-1589-2 |location=Jefferson |pages=42โ43 |access-date=7 November 2021 |archive-date=7 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107110508/https://books.google.com/books?id=4Hz119vPQYwC&pg=PA43 |url-status=live }}</ref> Nevertheless, Kim's parents, especially his mother, played a role in the anti-Japanese struggle that was sweeping the peninsula.<ref name="BaikBong1" />{{rp|16}} Their exact involvement{{snd}}whether their cause was missionary, nationalist, or both{{snd}}is unclear.<ref name="Lankov">{{cite book |last=Lankov |first=Andrei |title=From Stalin to Kim Il Sung: The Formation of North Korea 1945โ1960 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0813531175 }}</ref>{{rp|53}} === Communist and guerrilla activities === [[File:1943-10-05-์ 88์ฌ๋จ_๋์.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Members of the 88th Separate Rifle Brigade, an international military unit of the Red Army, in 1943. Kim is sitting in the front row, second from the right.]] North Korean government sources credit Kim with founding the [[Down-with-Imperialism Union]] in 1926.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kim Il-sung Death Anniversary: How the North Korea Founder Created a Cult of Personality |last=Smith |first=Lydia |work=International Business Times UK |date=8 July 2014 |access-date=1 October 2014 |url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/kim-il-sung-death-anniversary-how-north-korea-founder-became-cult-personality-1455758 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006150839/http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/kim-il-sung-death-anniversary-how-north-korea-founder-became-cult-personality-1455758 |archive-date=6 October 2014 }}</ref> He attended Whasung Military Academy in 1926, but found the academy's training methods outdated and quit it in 1927. He then attended [[Jilin Yuwen High School|Yuwen Middle School]] in [[Republic of China (1912โ1949)|China]]'s [[Jilin|Jilin province]] until 1930,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/28/world/asia/28korea.html?_r=1&hp |work=The New York Times |title=Carter Wins Release of American in North Korea |first1=Choe |last1=Sang-Hun |first2=Sharon |last2=Lafraniere |date=27 August 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630231240/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/28/world/asia/28korea.html?_r=1&hp |archive-date=30 June 2017 }}</ref> 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 {{Ill|Korean Communist Youth Association|ko|์กฐ์ ๊ณต์ฐ์ฒญ๋ ํ}}, an underground [[Marxism|Marxist]] organization with fewer than twenty members. It was led by Hล So ({{Korean|hangul=ํ์|hanja=่จฑ็ฌ|labels=no}}), who belonged to the {{Ill|South Manchurian Communist Youth Association|ko|๋จ๋งํ์ธ์ฒญ๋ ์ด๋๋งน}}. The police discovered 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.<ref name="Lankov"/>{{rp|52}}<ref name=Suh1988/>{{rp|7}} In 1931, Kim joined the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP){{snd}}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 warfare|guerrilla]] groups in northern China. Feelings against 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".<ref>Kim Il-Sung, "Let Us Repudiate the 'Left' Adventurist Line and Follow the Revolutionary Organizational Line" contained in ''On Juche in Our Revolution'' (Foreign Languages Publishers: Pyongyang, Korea, 1973) 3.</ref> The authorities easily suppressed this impromptu uprising. Because of the attack, the Japanese began to plan an occupation of Manchuria.<ref>{{cite book|last=Yamamuro |first=Shin'ichi |date=2006 |title=Manchuria Under Japanese Dominion |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Jx0BAAAQBAJ&q=may%2030%201930%20manchuria%20uprising&pg=PA24 |access-date=8 February 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518062413/https://books.google.com/books?id=7Jx0BAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA24&ots=YiKIyIWckn&dq=may%2030%201930%20manchuria%20uprising&pg=PA24 |archive-date=18 May 2016 |isbn=978-0812239126 }}</ref> In a speech Kim allegedly made before a meeting of Young Communist League delegates on 20 May 1931 in Yenchi County in Manchuria,<ref>{{cite book|last=Suh|first=Dae-Sook|title=Korean Communism, 1945โ1980: A Reference Guide to the Political System|year=1981|location=Honolulu|publisher=The University Press of Hawaii|isbn=978-0-8248-0740-5|pages=9, 19}}</ref> he warned the delegates against such unplanned uprisings as the 30 May 1930 uprising in eastern Manchuria.<ref>Kim Il-Sung, "Let Us Repudiate the 'Left' Adventurist Line and Follow the Revolutionary Organizational Line" contained in ''On Juche in Our Revolution'', pp. 1โ15.</ref> 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 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 [[Manchukuo|puppet government]].<ref>Kim Il-Sung, "On Waging Armed Struggle Against Japanese Imperialism" on 16 December 1931 contained in ''On Juche in Our Revolution'', pp. 17โ20.</ref> In 1935, Kim became a member of the [[Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army]], a guerrilla group led by the CCP.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/009770049402000302 | doi=10.1177/009770049402000302 | title=Northeast China and the Origins of the Anti-Japanese United Front | journal=Modern China | date=July 1994 | volume=20 | issue=3 | pages=282โ314 | last1=Coogan | first1=Anthony | s2cid=145225647 }}</ref> Kim was appointed the same year to serve as political commissar for the 3rd detachment of the second division, consisting of around 160 soldiers.<ref name="Lankov"/>{{rp|53}} Here Kim met the man who would become his mentor as a communist, Wei Zhengmin, Kim's immediate superior officer, who served at the time as 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.<ref name=Suh1988/>{{rp|8โ10}} Kim's actions during the [[Minsaengdan incident]] helped solidify his leadership.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Kim |first=Suzy |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/950929415 |title=Everyday life in the North Korean revolution, 1945โ1950 |date=2016 |isbn=978-1-5017-0568-7 |location=Ithaca |oclc=950929415}}</ref> The CCP operating in Manchuria had become suspicious that any Korean could secretly be a member of the pro-Japanese and anti-communist Minsaengdan.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Armstrong |first=Charles K. |title=The North Korean Revolution: 1945โ1950 |date=2013 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0801468797 |pages=30}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":2" /> Kim Il Sung's memoirs{{snd}}and those of the guerrillas who fought alongside him{{snd}}cite Kim's seizing and burning the suspect files of the Purge Committee as key to solidifying his leadership.<ref name=":1" /> After the destruction of the suspect files and the rehabilitation of suspects, those who had fled the purge rallied around Kim.<ref name=":1" /> 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."<ref name=":1" /> In 1935, Kim took the name ''Kim Il Sung'', meaning "Kim become the sun".<ref name="Martin2004">{{cite book|title= Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty|author= Bradley K. Martin|publisher= Thomas Dunne Books|year= 2004|isbn= 978-0-312-32322-6}}</ref>{{rp|30}} Kim was appointed commander of the 6th division in 1937, at the age of 24, controlling a few hundred men in a group that came to be known as "Kim Il Sung's division". On June 4, 1937, he led 200 guerrillas in a [[Battle of Pochonbo|raid on Poch'onbo]], destroying the local government offices and setting fire to a Japanese police station and post office.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Kim |first=Suzy |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/950929415 |title=Everyday life in the North Korean revolution, 1945โ1950 |date=2016 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-0568-7 |location=Ithaca |page=68 |oclc=950929415}}</ref> The success of the raid demonstrated Kim's talents as a military leader.<ref name=":0" /> Even more significant than the military success itself was the political coordination and organization between the guerrillas and the Korean Fatherland Restoration Association, an anti-Japanese united front group based in Manchuria.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name="Cumings">{{cite book |last=Cumings |first=Bruce |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yKN_q-TqYYgC&pg=160-161 |title=Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History (Updated) |date=2005 |publisher=W W Norton & Co |isbn=978-0-393-32702-1 |location=New York |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518130003/https://books.google.com/books?id=yKN_q-TqYYgC&pg=160-161 |archive-date=18 May 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|160โ161}}<ref>{{cite book | title = Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey | url = https://archive.org/details/koreastwentieth00robi/page/87 | url-access = registration | last = Robinson | first = Michael E | year = 2007 | publisher = University of Hawaii Press | location = Honolulu | isbn = 978-0-8248-3174-5 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/koreastwentieth00robi/page/87 87, 155] }}</ref> He appeared on Japanese wanted lists as the "Tiger".<ref name="McCormack 1993">{{cite book | title = Korea since 1850 | last1 = Lone | first1 = Stewart| last2 = McCormack | first2 = Gavan | author-link2 = Gavan McCormack | publisher = Longman Cheshire | location = Melbourne | year = 1993 | page=100 }}</ref> The Japanese "Maeda Unit" was sent to hunt him in February 1940.<ref name="McCormack 1993" /> 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 a dozen of his fighters escaped by crossing the [[Amur River]] into the Soviet Union.<ref name="Lankov" />{{rp|53โ54}} Kim was sent to a camp at [[Vyatskoye, Khabarovsk Krai|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]].<ref>{{cite web|language=zh-hant|url=http://dangshi.people.com.cn/BIG5/16700257.html|date=23 December 2011|access-date=1 June 2019|script-title=zh:้ๆฅๆ็ถๅญ่ๅจไฟไธญ็ถๅฅณ็ๅ ฉไปฃๅ่ชผ|website=people.com.cn|author=ๅฏธ้บ้ฆ|archive-date=1 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601054229/http://dangshi.people.com.cn/BIG5/16700257.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nknews.org/2019/02/how-an-obscure-red-army-unit-became-the-cradle-of-the-north-korean-elite/|date=4 February 2019|access-date=1 June 2019|title=How an obscure Red Army unit became the cradle of the North Korean elite|publisher=[[NK News]]|author=Fyodor Tertitskiy|archive-date=1 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601060126/https://www.nknews.org/2019/02/how-an-obscure-red-army-unit-became-the-cradle-of-the-north-korean-elite/|url-status=live}}</ref> Kim became a Major in the Soviet Red Army<ref name="Suh1988" />{{rp|50}} and served in it until the end of [[World War II]] in 1945.<ref>{{cite book | last=Buzo | first=Adrian | title=The Making of Modern Korea | edition=3rd | location=London | publisher=Routledge | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-317-42278-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lDolDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA270 | page=270 | access-date=7 November 2021 | archive-date=14 October 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014020445/https://books.google.com/books?id=lDolDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA270 | url-status=live }}</ref> === Return to Korea === [[File:Soviet military advisers attending North Korean mass event.jpg|thumb|Kim attending a mass event with members of the [[Soviet Civil Administration]], Pyongyang, October 1945]] The Soviet Union declared [[SovietโJapanese War|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 [[Military occupations by the Soviet Union|Soviet-occupied territories]] and Beria met Kim several times before recommending him to Stalin.<ref name="dailynk.com"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ysfine.com/wisdom/wk01.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528043524/http://ysfine.com/wisdom/wk01.html|url-status=dead|title=Wisdom of Korea|archive-date=28 May 2013|website=ysfine.com}}</ref><ref name="scmp.com">{{cite web|last=O'Neill|first=Mark|url=http://www.scmp.com/article/727755/kim-il-sungs-secret-history |title=Kim Il-sung's secret history|work=South China Morning Post|date=17 October 2010 |access-date=15 April 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227095258/http://www.scmp.com/article/727755/kim-il-sungs-secret-history |archive-date=27 February 2014 }}</ref> Kim arrived in the Korean port of [[Wonsan]] on 19 September 1945 after 26 years in exile.<ref name="Martin2004"/>{{rp|51}} According to Leonid Vassin, an officer with the Soviet [[Ministry of Internal Affairs (Soviet Union)|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.<ref name="Rogue">{{cite book |author=Jasper Becker |url=https://archive.org/details/rogueregimekimjo00beck |title=Rogue Regime : Kim Jong Il and the Looming Threat of North Korea |date=2005 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-803810-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/rogueregimekimjo00beck/page/44 44] |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|50}} [[File:28.08.1946 Labour Party North Korea.jpg|thumb|right|Kim Il Sung (center) and [[Kim Tu-bong]] (second from the right) at the joint meeting of the [[New People's Party of Korea|New People's Party]] and the [[Workers' Party of North Korea]] in Pyongyang, 28 August 1946]] In December 1945, the Soviets installed Kim as first secretary of the [[North Korean Branch Bureau]] of the [[Communist Party of Korea]].<ref name="Martin2004"/>{{rp|56}} 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.<ref name="Armstrong2013">{{cite book|last=Armstrong|first=Charles|date=2013|title=The North Korean Revolution, 1945โ1950|publisher=Cornell University Press}}</ref> General [[Terentii Shtykov]], who led the Soviet occupation of northern Korea, supported Kim over [[Pak Hon-yong]] to lead the [[People's Committee of North Korea|Provisional People's Committee for North Korea]] on 8 February 1946.<ref name=LankovArticle>{{cite news|last=Lankov |first=Andrei |date=25 January 2012 |title=Terenti Shtykov: the other ruler of nascent N. Korea |url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/01/363_103451.html |newspaper=[[The Korea Times]] |access-date=14 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150417010008/http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/01/363_103451.html |archive-date=17 April 2015 }}</ref> As chairman of the committee, Kim 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.<ref name="scmp.com"/><ref name="Martin2004"/>{{rp|56}}<ref name=LankovArticle/> On 1 March 1946, while giving a speech to commemorate an anniversary of the [[March 1st 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 the grenade and absorbed the blast with his body, leaving Kim and other bystanders unharmed.<ref>{{Citation |last=Lankov |first=Andrei Nikolaevich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8yupvBRohJ4C |title=From Stalin to Kim Il Sung: The Formation of North Korea, 1945โ1960 |date=2002 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-3117-5 |language=en|pages=24โ25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Young |first=Benjamin R. |date=12 December 2013 |title=Meet the man who saved Kim Il Sung's life |url=https://www.nknews.org/2013/12/meet-the-man-who-saved-kim-il-sungs-life/ |access-date=8 May 2023 |website=[[NK News]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Jung |first=Byung Joon |title=ํ์คํ ์์ด๊ณผ ๊น์ผ์ฑ ์์ด์๋โํ๋จ ๊ฑด์ค์ ์ข์ ๋ 'ํด๋ฐฉํฉ๊ธ์๋'์ ๋ฐฑ์์ฌ |url=https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002752849 |work=์ญ์ฌ๋นํ [Critical Review of History] |volume=136 |pages=342โ388 |year=2021 |trans-title=Assassination of Hyun Junhyuk and Assassination Attempt on Kim Ilsung: โThe Frustrated Golden Daysโ of Pyongnam Korean Committee for the Preparation of the Re-establishment of the State and the Origin of White Shirts Society |access-date=21 May 2023 |publisher=์ญ์ฌ๋ฌธ์ ์ฐ๊ตฌ์ [The Institute for Korean Historical Studies] |language=ko |issn=1227-3627}}</ref> 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 [[National Revolutionary Army|Nationalist Chinese]] troops.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fas.org/irp/world/rok/nis-docs/defense02.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306013620/http://fas.org/irp/world/rok/nis-docs/defense02.htm|url-status=dead|title=Defense|archive-date=6 March 2016}}</ref> Using Soviet advisers and equipment, Kim constructed 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 the Soviet Union and China to train in [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15|MiG-15]] jet aircraft at secret bases.<ref>Blair, Clay, ''The Forgotten War: America in Korea'', [[Naval Institute Press]] (2003).</ref> === Claims that Kim Il Sung was an imposter === [[File:Kim-Il-sung ๊น์ผ์ฑ 19461103election.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Kim during the [[1946 North Korean local elections]] campaign]] Several sources claim the name "Kim Il Sung" had previously been used by a prominent early leader of the [[Korean resistance]], [[Kim Kyung-cheon]].<ref name="Rogue" />{{rp|44}} The Soviet officer [[Grigory Mekler]], who worked with Kim during the [[Soviet occupation of Korea|Soviet occupation]], said that Kim took this name from a former commander who had died.<ref>{{cite news |date=10 January 2003 |title=Soviets groomed Kim Il Sung for leadership |work=Vladivostok News |url=http://vn.vladnews.ru/Arch/2003/ISS345/News/upd10.HTM |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090610172839/http://vn.vladnews.ru/Arch/2003/ISS345/News/upd10.HTM |archive-date=10 June 2009}}</ref> However, historian [[Andrei Lankov]] has argued that this 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.<ref name="Lankov" />{{rp|55}} Historian [[Bruce Cumings]] pointed out that Japanese officers from the [[Kwantung Army]] have attested to his fame as a resistance figure.<ref name="Cumings" />{{rp|160โ161}} According to the 2019 book ''Surprise, Kill, Vanish'' by investigative journalist [[Annie Jacobsen]], the United States [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) once concluded that Kim Il Sung was a [[blackmail]]ed imposter operated by the Soviet Union.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=Annie |title=Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins |publisher=[[Little, Brown and Company]] |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-316-44140-7 |location=New York|page=42 |language=en}}</ref> 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 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 the regime that there should be no questions raised about Kim [Il Sung]'s identity."<ref name=":3" /> Historians generally accept the view that, while Kim's exploits were exaggerated by the [[North Korean cult of personality|personality cult]] which was built around him, he was a significant guerrilla leader.<ref>{{cite book |last=Buzo |first=Adrian |title=The Making of Modern Korea |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-415-23749-9 |location=London |page=56}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Michael E |url=https://archive.org/details/koreastwentieth00robi |title=Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8248-3174-5 |location=Honolulu |page=[https://archive.org/details/koreastwentieth00robi/page/87 87] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Oberdorfer |first1=Don |title=The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History |last2=Carlin |first2=Robert |publisher=Basic Books |year=2014 |isbn=978-0465031238 |pages=13โ14}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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