When Kim Il Sen died. Russian hero of the DPRK

Kim Il Sung - Founder of the North Korean state, Eternal President of the DPRK, Generalissimo. During his lifetime and after death, he is the holder of the title "Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung." Now North Korea is ruled by the grandson of the country's first president, although Kim Il Sung remains the de facto leader (in 1994 it was decided to leave the post to the leader of Korea forever).

Around Kim Il Sung and the subsequent leaders of Korea, a personality cult similar to the cult in the USSR was restored. The cult of personality made Kim Il Sung a semi-god in North Korea, and the country itself one of the most closed in the world.

Childhood and youth

Kim Il Sung's biography consists of many legends and myths. It is difficult to single out what events actually took place at the beginning of the life of the future Great Leader of the Korean people. It is known that Kim Song Joo was born on April 15, 1912, in Namni Village, Gopyeong County, Taedong County (now Mangyongdae), near Pyongyang. Kim Sung Joo's father is the village teacher Kim Hyun Jik. Mom Kang Bang Sok, according to some sources, is the daughter of a Protestant priest. The family lived in poverty. Several sources claim that Kim Hyun Jik and Kang Bang Suk were members of the resistance movement in Japan-occupied Korea.

In 1920, Kim Sung Joo's family moved to China. The boy went to a Chinese school. In 1926, his father, Kim Hyun Jik, died. Moving into the senior class, Kim Sung Joo joined an underground Marxist circle. After the disclosure of the organization in 1929, he was imprisoned. I spent six months in prison. After leaving prison, Kim Sung Joo became a member of the anti-Japanese resistance in China. At the age of 20, in 1932, he led a partisan anti-Japanese detachment. Then he took the pseudonym Kim Il Sung (Rising Sun).

Politics and military career

His military career went uphill quickly. In 1934, Kim Il Sung commanded a guerrilla platoon. In 1936, he became the commander of a guerrilla formation called the "Kim Il Sung Division." On June 4, 1937, he led the attack on the Korean city of Pochonbo. During the attack, the gendarme post and some of the Japanese administrative posts were destroyed. The successful attack characterized Kim Il Sung as a successful warlord.

In the period 1940-1945, the future North Korean leader commanded the 2nd direction of the 1st United People's Army. In 1940, Japanese troops succeeded in suppressing the activities of most of the guerrilla groups in Manchuria. The Comintern (an organization that unites the communist parties of different countries) offered to move to the Korean and Chinese partisan detachments in the USSR. The Kim Il Sung partisans were based near Ussuriysk. In the spring of 1941, Kim Il Sung crossed the Chinese border with a small detachment and carried out a series of anti-Japanese operations.

In the summer of 1942, Kim Il Sung was admitted to the ranks of the Red Army (Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army) under the name "Comrade Jing Ji-cheng" and was appointed commander of the 1st rifle battalion of the 88th separate rifle brigade. The brigade consisted of Korean and Chinese fighters. The 1st Battalion consisted mainly of Korean guerrillas. Kim Il Sung together with the commander of the 88th brigade Zhou Baozhong met with the commander Soviet troops in the Far East by Joseph Opanasenko.

As a result of the meeting, a decision was made to create the United International Troops. The association was strictly classified, the base of Kim Il Sung near Ussuriysk was transferred to Khabarovsk, to the village of Vyatskoye. Many future associates of Kim Il Sung in the party lived in the military hostel of the village. The 88th Brigade was preparing for sabotage guerrilla activities in Japan. After the surrender of Japan, the brigade was disbanded. Kim Il Sung, along with other Korean commanders, was sent to help the Soviet commandants in Korean and Chinese cities. The future Korean leader was appointed assistant commandant of Pyongyang.

On October 14, 1945, Kim Il Sung delivered a congratulatory speech in honor of the Red Army at a rally at the Pyongyang stadium. The commander of the 25th Army, Colonel General Ivan Mikhailovich Chistyakov presented the captain of the Red Army Kim Il Sung as a "national hero." The people learned the name of the new hero. Kim Il Sung's rapid path to power began. In December 1946, Kim Il Sung became chairman of the organizing bureau of the North Korean Communist Party. A year later, he headed the Provisional People's Committee. In 1948, Kim Il Sung was elected Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the DPRK.

By the decision of the Potsdam Conference in 1945, Korea was divided into two parts, 38 parallel. The northern part was under the influence of the USSR, and the southern part was occupied by American troops. In 1948, Rhee Seung Man became the president of South Korea. North and South Korea made claims that their political system was the only correct one. War was brewing on the Korean Peninsula. The final decision to start hostilities, according to historians, was made during Kim Il Sung's visit to Moscow in 1950.

The war between North and South Korea began on June 25, 1950 with a surprise attack from Pyongyang. Kim Il Sung took over as commander-in-chief. The war lasted with alternating success between the opposing sides until July 27, 1953, when a ceasefire was signed. Pyongyang remained under the influence of the USSR, while Seoul remained under the influence of the United States. A peace treaty between North and South Korea has not been signed to this day. The war on the Korean Peninsula was the first military conflict of the Cold War. In the future, all were built according to her model. local conflicts with the behind-the-scenes presence of the world's superpowers.

After 1953, the DPRK's economy, supported by Moscow and Beijing, began to boom. Since the beginning of the Soviet-Chinese conflict, Kim Il Sung had to show diplomatic qualities, learning to maneuver between China and the USSR. The leader tried to maintain a policy of neutrality with the conflicting parties, leaving economic assistance to the DPRK at the same level. Industry is dominated by the Tzan system, which presupposes the absence of cost accounting and material dependence.

The planning of the country's economy is carried out from the center. Private business is illegal and is being destroyed. The country's work is subordinated to the needs of the military-industrial complex. The strength of the Korean People's Army has reached 1 million. By the beginning of the 70s, the DPRK economy entered a period of stagnation, the standard of living of citizens deteriorated. To maintain stability in the country, the authorities focused on strengthening the indoctrination of the population and total control.

In 1972, the post of prime minister was removed. For Kim Il Sung, the post of President of the DPRK was established. Kim Il Sung's personality cult began to develop in 1946, when photographs of the leader were hung next to portraits of Joseph Stalin in places where rallies and gatherings were held.

The first monument to the North Korean leader was erected during his lifetime, in 1949. The worship of the "Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung" reached a wide scale in the 60s and continues to this day. During his lifetime, the leader of the DPRK received the titles "Iron All-Conquering Commander", "Marshal of the Mighty Republic", "Pledge of the Liberation of Mankind", etc. Korean social scientists have created a new science called the Study of Revolutionary Leaders, which studies the role of a leader in world history.

Personal life

In 1935, in Manchuria, the future Great Leader met the daughter of a poor peasant from North Korea, Kim Jong Suk. On April 25, 1937, Kim Jong Suk served in the Korean People's Army under the leadership of Kim Il Sung. The wedding of the Korean communists took place in 1940. In the village of Vyatskoye near Khabarovsk, a son was born -. According to some reports, the boy's name at the beginning of his life was Yuri.

Kim Jong Suk died in childbirth on September 22, 1949 at the age of 31. Kim Il Sung has forever preserved the memory of Kim Jong Suk. In 1972, the woman was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Korea.

The second wife of the Korean leader in 1952 was the secretary Kim Sung E.

Death

On July 8, 1994, Kim Il Sung died of a heart attack at the age of 82. Since the mid-1980s, the leader of North Korea has suffered from a tumor. A photo from that period clearly shows the bony formations on the leader's neck. The mourning for the leader lasted three years in North Korea. After the end of mourning, power passed to the eldest son of Kim Il Sung - Kim Jong Il.

After the death of Kim Il Sung, the body of the leader was placed in a transparent sarcophagus and is in the Kumsusan Sun Memorial Palace. The mausoleum of Kim Il Sung and the second President of Korea Kim Jong Il forms a single complex with the Revolutionary Memorial Cemetery. The bodies of Kim Il Sung's mother and his first wife are buried in the cemetery. The memorial is visited by thousands of citizens of Korea and other countries. In the halls of Kumsusan, visitors can see the things of the leader, his car and the luxurious carriage in which Kim Il Sung traveled.

Memory

The memory of Kim Il Sung is immortalized in North Korea with the names of streets, a university, and a central square in Pyongyang. Every year Koreans celebrate Sun Day, celebrating Kim Il Sung's birthday. The Kim Il Sung Order is the main award in the country. In 1978, banknotes with the image of Kim Il Sung were released. The release lasted until 2002.

On the 70th birthday of the leader, the second tallest structure was opened in Pyongyang - a monumental granite stele with a height of 170 meters. The monument is named “Monument to the Juche Ideas”. Juche is a North Korean national communist idea (Marxism adapted for the Korean population).

Every place in North Korea that Kim Il Sung has ever visited is marked with a plaque and declared a national treasure. The leader's works are reprinted many times and studied in schools and higher educational institutions... Quotes from Kim Il Sung's writings are memorized by labor collectives at meetings.

Awards

• Hero of the DPRK (three times)
• Hero of Labor of the DPRK
• Order of the Red Banner (DPRK)
• Order of the Golden Star (DPRK)
• Order of Karl Marx
• The order of Lenin
• Order "Victory of Socialism"
• Order of Clement Gottwald
• The order State flag I degree
• Order of Freedom and Independence, 1st class

This year marks 70 years since the decision of the Soviet leadership to send a group of Soviet citizens of Korean nationality to North Korea to help establish the communist regime there. Scientific and Educational Center and Faculty of History of Kursk state university a special collection is being prepared for this date, which will include biographical materials, documents and photographs about the stay of Soviet Koreans in Korea, and the memoirs of their relatives.

As noted by the orientalist and expert on Korea, Professor Andrei Lankov, this topic has been little studied by historians. The DPRK authorities prefer not to remember the Soviet Koreans, since much of what is attributed in the DPRK to the dictatorial Kim dynasty was actually done by them. And in South Korea, as Andrei Lankov writes, historians, regardless of their political orientation, are not too interested in studying the Soviet influence on the DPRK's policy - their main attention is focused on those characters in North Korean history who are somehow connected with present-day South Korea.

- In October, the 70th anniversary of the decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on the sending of Soviet Koreans to North Korea will be celebrated. They were used there not only as translators for the Soviet occupation administration (a similar category of specialists was also in demand), but also for party and state building. At first, Stalin did not know what to do with the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, which had been part of the Japanese Empire for quite a long time. And then, near Khabarovsk, they found the captain of the Red Army, Kim Il Sung, who commanded a military unit there. Here it was in September 1945 on the ship "Emelyan Pugachev" from the Soviet Of the Far East sent with advisers to create one of the varieties of "people's democracy" there. Stalin understood that what was done in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe was not very suitable for Asian countries.

Kim Il Sung (center) and Grigory Mekler (right), who "painted" a ceremonial biography of the Korean leader

Koreans came not only from the territory Soviet Union but also from China. Mao Zedong sent the Korean communists, who had already established a foothold in Manchuria in the 1930s, from where Kim Il Sung, in fact, appeared at one time in the political and military arena as a partisan commander. There were also local revolutionaries, such as Park Hong Young and Lee Seung Yeb, who then suffered a lot. The Soviet Union played a decisive role, and Mao, after coming to power in 1946 in mainland China, was in fact his "overseer" in the Far East. Stalin often said: I don't understand much there.

–​Who were the Soviet Koreans sent to the Korean Peninsula recruited from?

- In 1937, the Koreans of the Far East of the USSR, who lived there since the second half of the XIX century, they were deported, because in Moscow they were considered a potential Japanese "fifth column". But these were very talented and hardworking people. IN Central Asia where they were moved, they did not have this "spy" halo. They held leading positions there, became chairmen of collective farms, party secretaries, served in law enforcement agencies, worked in educational institutions... After August 1945, they began to be drafted through the military registration and enlistment offices and sent to North Korea - to implement the experience that they gained in the Soviet Union.

–​How many people in question?

- There is different information. From 150 to 450, some say 500. But I think, somewhere in the range of 240-250 people. These are the people who held leading positions in the government and the party, as well as translators, teachers, technicians, and the military.

–​When Soviet Koreans went to Korea to help install there communist regime, did they go there forever or on business trips?

- They were guided that forever. Historian from High school Associate Professor Zhanna Grigorievna Sleep told me that she saw these written obligations. Perhaps some of them were also driven by the desire to realize themselves in their historical homeland. For example, Aleksey Ivanovich Khegai (he died in 1953 under unclear circumstances) - he was the second person after Kim Il Sung since 1949, in fact, he led the entire party work. He was in not very high positions in Central Asia. Another Soviet Korean, being the director of a bank branch in one of the regional centers in the USSR, headed the State Bank in North Korea. In the Soviet Union, a person of Korean descent could hardly have made such a quick career as a Soviet Korean in North Korea. Not all were sent - those who had "spots" in their biography were screened out. Well, not everyone wanted to go - they were just ordered.

–​Over time, these people began to pose a danger to Kim Il Sung? Did he deal with them after Stalin's death?

Every tenth Soviet Korean in the DPRK was repressed

- Yes, he wanted to destroy, not necessarily in physical sense, and the "Chinese" and "Soviet" groupings. The same applies to local revolutionaries, who did not recognize Kim Il Sung as a leader - after all, Grigory Mekler, an employee of the Political Directorate of the 1st Far Eastern Front, "drew" a biography for him, a 33-year-old "boy," at the direction of his superiors. Kim Il Sung wanted to "forget" about it. Once he was proud of the Soviet Order of the Red Banner, spoke with him at a rally. And now, in the "modern version" of the photo from this rally in the North Korean Museum of the Revolution, he does not have an order on his lapel. The flags of North Korea until the summer of 1948 were very similar to modern South Korean flags. They were also erased from the photograph. The leader was "molded" new story, altering the old one.

At first, Kim Il Sung was not going to make any career, he wanted to stay in the Soviet army, to rise to the rank of general. His son Yura was born in 1942 near Khabarovsk, who was later "turned" into Kim Jong Il, who was allegedly born on the territory of Korea - this is another obvious falsification. After Stalin's death, Kim Il Sung began to be surrounded mainly by sycophants and saints. He deleted the rest. There was such Lee San Cho, who came from China, the head of the intelligence department of the Korean People's Army. In Kaesong, along with Nam Il, another Soviet Korean, he represented the Korean delegation in the armistice negotiations, and then he was sent in 1955 as ambassador to the Soviet Union. But, in the words of Andrei Lankov, there he breathed in the air of the 20th Congress of the CPSU and began to "expose". I wrote a large open letter to Kim Il Sung with accusations: why do you forget our services, Soviet Koreans and Chinese ... why do you mold your story ... And so on. And he remained a defector, lived another 40 years in the USSR, studied in Minsk scientific work, died in 1996.

Kim Seung Hwa - was such an employee of the North Korean party apparatus, quite prominent, Kim Il Sung sent him back to the USSR. And he wrote a book about the history of Soviet Koreans, became a doctor of sciences in Kazakhstan, a famous scientist and historian. There are other examples as well. Those who were repressed, shot or imprisoned, or their fate is unknown, according to some sources, these are 48 people. If we consider that there were about 500 of them, then every tenth was repressed.

–How strong is the desire among Koreans to return to their historical homeland?

- Life could have seemed difficult to Soviet Koreans in the USSR, but when they faced North Korean realities, it turned out that everything was not so bad in the Soviet Union. The same Aleksey Khegai complained to the Soviet embassy, ​​they say, I have been on a business trip for 7 years, let me go. A few days later he was found dead. Probably knew too much ...

In 1955, Kim Il Sung put the question bluntly before the Soviet Koreans: either you are citizens of the Soviet Union, foreigners, with all the ensuing consequences, or you are citizens of the DPRK. And very many left just in 1956-1957, choosing the Soviet Union. But, on the other hand, some remained. For example, Nam Il, he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Imagine, a Soviet citizen in 1953 was still the foreign minister of a sovereign North Korean state. He remained in Soviet citizenship until 1956. He entered the Presidium (Politburo) of the Central Committee, was until 1972 deputy chairman of the cabinet of ministers, then became deputy prime minister of the Administrative Council, when a new constitution appeared in the DPRK. In 1976 he died in a car accident, was buried with all the honors.

Pan Hak Se, came from Kyzyl-Orda, the Minister of State Security, in fact "North Korean Beria", on the orders of Kim Il Sung repressed immigrants from the Soviet Union. He made a career out of this, and later was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He died in the early 1990s and was buried with honors in Pyongyang. Park Den Ai (Vera Choi) was Kim Il Sung's deputy, head of the North Korean Women's Committee. Laureate of the Stalin Prize "For Strengthening Peace Among Nations". Until 1968, she made a successful career, at least kept her positions, and then disappeared. She appeared again in the mid-1980s, but not in the first roles. Next year she will be 100 years old, but no one can find her traces.

–​Where and how did you conduct this research? What prompted you to start it?

The absolute majority drove for ideological reasons

- The history of North and South Korea is studied in many aspects. And the Soviet Koreans are hardly remembered. It is unprofitable for the northerners why: very many Soviet Koreans opposed Kim Il Sung, left, did not agree to build there further what Kim Il Sung had proposed. South Korea is also not interested, because the history of Soviet Koreans for them follows one of the reincarnations of the Stalinist regime on the territory of the Korean Peninsula. And so it turned out so peculiar " White spot". For me personally, the sincerity of these people, the fact that they wanted the good for their people, their historical homeland, is beyond doubt. The absolute majority traveled for ideological reasons. this impulse - to help his homeland to free itself, to build a bright future, no matter how naive it may look now, was completely sincere.

Such concepts as bribery, corruption did not exist for these people. They lived better than the indigenous people of North Korea, but, you know, everything is learned by comparison. It's like comparing the life of modern oligarchs in Russia or today's state nomenklatura with how the representatives of the Soviet elite lived under Brezhnev, and even more so under Stalin or under Khrushchev. Soviet Koreans lived much better than ordinary local Koreans, but much worse than, for example, the middle class in some developed country. Their descendants send me a lot of photographs, and I can see how modestly they are dressed. It is clear from the expressions on their faces that these are modest people by their upbringing, and this cannot be taken away.

This was one of the main incentives for me and my colleagues to try to remind of these people. You can't even imagine what their relatives are sending touching letters and how they are grateful for the fact that they finally remembered their grandfathers and parents after 60 years! It's just that tears come to your eyes when you read. Today one person sent me a letter from Tashkent, he is now 76 years old, he has a stroke, he barely writes, but he really wants to know about his father, a responsible worker who headed the Pyongyang radio broadcasting and then returned to the USSR. We do not make assessments, we simply examine the layer of history outside of political opportunistic considerations, and this is the most important thing.

Korean statesman and party leader. In the 20s. lived in China, where he was educated in a Chinese school. Joined a Chinese guerrilla unit, quickly rose to leadership and became commander in 1932. Kim Il Sung rose to prominence in Korea after his detachment attacked a small Japanese garrison on the border between China and Korea in 1937. Soon the partisans were defeated, and in 1941 Kim began to live in the USSR. In the Soviet Union, Kim was recruited into the Soviet army, became a captain. For propaganda purposes, a company was formed from the Koreans, which was headed by Kim. He led the life of an ordinary officer, named his son Yura. Subsequently, Yuri Kim will become "the beloved leader of the Korean people, Comrade Kim Jong Il." After the occupation of North Korea in 1945, the Soviet leadership decided to make Kim Il Sung the leader of the local communists. Kim was considered “his own,” in contrast to the Korean underground, whom I. Stalin did not trust. So Captain Kim became a "leader" despite the low authority of the newcomer officer among the Korean communists. He headed the Interim People's Committee of North Korea.

In 1948, in a busy Soviet army On the territory of North Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was proclaimed, power in which was in the hands of the Communist Workers' Party of Korea, headed by Kim Il Sung (chairman of the Central Committee of the WPK and the government of the DPRK). He was proclaimed "the leader of the Korean people." A large number of Soviet and Chinese specialists were sent to Korea - Koreans by nationality, who became citizens of the DPRK and helped in the construction of modern industry and the creation of an army. Kim planned to unite the "two Koreas" by military means, but during the Korean War of 1950-1953. the DPRK army was defeated in 1950 by the Americans and their allies. The DPRK survived only thanks to the assistance of the USSR and China. After the Korean War, Kim Il Sung gradually freed himself from the tutelage of his allies. Under the pretext of fighting American agents, Kim Il Sung destroyed the old leaders of the communist movement in Korea, who could challenge his primacy. After 1956, he expelled or executed most of the Koreans of Soviet and Chinese descent. By the beginning of the 60s. Kim Il Sung and his closest former guerrilla friends killed everyone who was not ready to deify the "leader." Kim Il Sung lived luxuriously in a palace in Pyongyang. The whole country was lined with monuments to him. He regularly traveled around his small country, personally pointing out how to work for peasants, milkmaids and even midwives. This was called “field leadership”. The lives of millions of Koreans depended on Kim's slightest quirks. When in the 80s. Kim first appeared in a jacket, which led to a general change in fashion among party workers (ordinary people in the country did not have the funds for jackets). Kim's heir was appointed his son Kim Jong Il, formerly Yura Kim. Power came to the party apparatchiks from the peasants, who owed their appointments personally to the leader.

Kim's foreign policy goal was to capture South Korea. Until 1968, he tried to launch a guerrilla war in the south along the Vietnamese model. To fight the South, the DPRK maintained a huge army. As Kim's actions were criticized by the Soviet Union, the DPRK reduced its contacts with the USSR and adopted a “Self-reliance” policy. The inhabitants of the DPRK suffered from malnutrition. Despite this, North Korean propaganda, guided by the "Juche idea" proposed by Kim Il Sung, continues to argue that North Koreans are the best in the world. To insure his subjects' faith in this, Kim almost completely isolated the country from outside world... In 1972, Kir Il Sung was proclaimed President of the DPRK.

After the death of Kim Il Sung, a three-year mourning was observed for him - as was the custom in the Middle Ages after the death of the king. In 1998 he was proclaimed the eternal president of the DPRK.

Compositions:

Selected works. Pyongyang, 1975.

Sources:

Comrade Kim Il Sung is a genius thinker and theorist. Pyongyang, 1975.

Kim Il Sung is the permanent leader of North Korea, the developer of Korean Marxism. He ruled the Land of Morning Freshness for 50 years. Some consider him an outstanding politician, a master of political intrigue. Others are ranked among the most brutal dictators of the 20th century. The life of this unique person, who has gone from a simple boy from a poor Korean village to an "eternal president", is full of mysterious events.

Kim Il Sung's biography is full of fiction, and it is sometimes difficult to separate the truth from a beautiful fairy tale. Few people know that for 50 years this man ruled under an assumed name, and his real name was Kim Sung Joo.

The eternal president of Korea was born on April 15, 1912 in the village of Namni into the family of a village teacher and herbalist. At the age of 20, Kim Sung Joo became the commander of an anti-Japanese detachment in China. He quickly promoted his career and it was then that he took on a pseudonym - Kim Il Sung, which means "the rising sun". There is no doubt that Kim was a successful guerrilla commander who successfully fought under the infernal conditions of Japanese occupation.

As for the personal life of the future leader, then riddles begin. According to one version, his first wife fought with him in the detachment, then in 1940 she was captured by the Japanese and executed. On the other, official version, his first wife since 1940 was the daughter of a farm laborer Kim Jong Suk. It turns out that when his first beloved was executed, he immediately married another? In 1942, their first son appears, according to the official version, he was born on the sacred mountain of Pektusana.

In 1991, an “Open Letter to President Kim Il Sung” appeared in the Alma-Ata newspaper in Korean. The author, Yoo Sung Cher, a former chief of the operations headquarters of the Korean People's Army, claimed that Kim Il Sung had shamefully fled under the blows of the Japanese army into Soviet territory and miraculously managed to escape the Japanese. And it was in the Soviet seaside that his son was born. “You cannot but remember all this. But you are ashamed to remember all this ... ".

It is also unclear how Kim Il Sung came to power in North Korea. higher education, and received all the basic ideas about social and economic life in political studies in partisan detachments. In addition, in 1945, when he returned to North Korea, many believed that the partisan commander was replaced, as everyone was amazed at his too youthful appearance. This statement even made it into American intelligence reports. The Soviet military authorities even organized a demonstration trip for Kim Il Sung to his home village together with correspondents.

Replaced or real, but having seized power, Kim Il Sung became the permanent leader of this long-suffering country for many years and brought the principles of socialism on the territory entrusted to him to the point of absurdity. The economy has become completely planned, everywhere there is a distribution system. Probably, this was not even in our country in the most rabid socialist times. For example, household plots and market trade were declared a bourgeois-feudal remnant and liquidated. Each family was given strictly defined portions of rice, flour, sugar.

The Koreans copied the personality cult of Stalin, but even in this they surpassed their northern brother - the USSR. It all started with the renaming of Pyongyang University in honor of the beloved leader. Further more. Monuments were erected to Kim Il Sung, his biography was studied, colorful glossy magazines with numerous portraits of the leader were published. In the impoverished country, magnificent festivities in honor of the beloved president were tripled, at which portraits of the country's leader were hung next to the portraits of Marx, Lenin, Stalin.

After the 1960s. the personality cult of the Korean leader began to take on unprecedented forms and was especially manifested on the day of his 60th birthday. The country even adopted a new constitution, in which comrade Kim Il Sung is described as a genius of ideas, an all-conquering steel commander, a great revolutionary. Every book in Korea was required to contain quotes from the speeches of the leader, criticism was considered a state crime and was imprisoned.

The stability of North Korean society was ensured only by tight control and massive indoctrination. In terms of the scope of its repressive organs, North Korea has surpassed all the states of the world. The population of the country was divided into several dozen families who lived in one block or house and were bound by mutual responsibility with the unlimited power of the head of the group. Without the consent of the headman, a simple Korean could not invite guests to his place, spend the night outside the house.

There were over 120 thousand political prisoners alone in the country. In the late 1950s, public executions were practiced in stadiums.

However, the leader himself and his son did not deny themselves anything. They had a special group of female servants under the meaningful name "Joy", to which only young, beautiful, unmarried women with good backgrounds are selected. Virginity was also a special requirement. To keep Kim's joy eternal, the Institute of Longevity, located in Pyongyang, was engaged in maintaining health. In order to rejuvenate Kim Il Sung's body and enhance his male function, doctors used the human placenta. Especially for the leader, virgins of 14-15 years old were fertilized, then provoking premature birth. The institute was in charge of purchasing high quality products abroad.

Despite the nationwide concern for his health, at the age of 82, Kim Il Sung died of a heart attack. His death was mourned by the entire nation. Great Kim was buried in the mausoleum, having declared three years of mourning in the country. For 5 months, more than 23 million people climbed the hill where he is buried. By a decree of July 8, 1997, the country adopted a calendar with the chronology from the birth of Kim Il Sung, and the date of his birth became the "Day of the Sun". Amendments to the constitution were adopted: the presidency was abolished, since Kim Il Sung became the Eternal President of the DPRK.

His son, Kim Jong Il, continued his father's work, actually receiving the throne after his death. He became “the guarantee of the unification of the Motherland”, “the fate of the nation”, “the bright star of Pektusan” and, like Stalin, “the father of the people”. Although Kim Jong Il himself was not particularly musical, special composers wrote six operas for him, and he was declared a great composer. He was also glorified as a great architect.

Kim Jong Il surpassed his father in terms of repression. During his reign, labor concentration camps were created, public executions were carried out, and women were forced to abortion. Western states have repeatedly accused North Korea of ​​human rights violations and found signs of slavery in its labor system. The socialist planned economy failed miserably, the impoverished country looked pitiful against the background of the rapid development of capitalist North Korea.

IN different countries brigades of North Koreans, including Russia, Kazakhstan, were sent, who worked from morning till night for the good of their homeland. Of course, access to information has opened the eyes of many Koreans to the true state of affairs. From the country, labor camps, cases of desertion became more frequent, but the retribution in cases of capture was terrible. At the first attempt to escape - imprisonment in a labor camp, for the second - the death penalty.

"Suns of the nation" died on board his own armored train, but no one knew about it for 2 days. It was announced - "from mental and physical exhaustion caused by continuous inspection trips around the country in the interests of building a prosperous state." It is said that on the day of his death, even bears woke up from hibernation to mourn about great loss, and flocks of forty began to circle over the spire of the Kim Il Sung mausoleum to inform the father of the death of his son. This was followed by three months of mourning. For those who did not mourn enough for this grief, labor camps awaited. It was strictly forbidden to use mobile communications at this time.

Currently, Kim Jong Il's third son, Kim Jong-un (Kim III), has become the new head of state. He is also a "new star", "brilliant comrade" and "genius among the geniuses of military strategy." He also has a nuclear button.

Kim Il Sung (Korean 김일성, according to Kontsevich - Kim Ilseong, née Kim Sung Joo, April 15, 1912, Mangyongdae - July 8, 1994, Pyongyang) is the founder of the North Korean state and its first ruler from 1948 to 1994 (head of state since 1972). Developed the Korean version of Marxism - Juche.

There is little exact information about Kim Il Sung, and all because of the secrecy surrounding his biography. His name is not what he received at birth. Kim Il Sung was born in 1912 in one of the suburbs of Pyongyang. The family moved to Manchuria in 1925 to escape the Japanese occupation. In Manchuria, Kim Il Sung became a member of the Communist Party in 1931. The military authorities from the Soviet Union drew attention to him. There was the second World War and Kim Il Sung lived in the USSR. He claimed to have fought in the Red Army. Most likely, he was involved in politics, and not at war. He adopted the pseudonym Kim Il Sung, in honor of the famous Korean patriot who died fighting the Japanese.

The Second World War is over. US troops occupied the South of Korea, and the USSR occupied the North. They announced that they would make a unified state. Meanwhile, Kim Il Sung and other communists from Korea returned to their homeland from the USSR to lead the country. Many Koreans have heard about Kim Il Sung. They were waiting for his return, but they saw a young "new Kim", not a war veteran. It is not known exactly if this misunderstanding was resolved. In 1948, the Korean occupation of the USSR ended. Kim Il Sung has concentrated power over North Korea in his own hands. He became the prime minister of the DPRK. The USA and the USSR were never able to unite Korea peacefully. Kim Il Sung took advantage of the support of the USSR and the opportunity, and therefore invaded South Korea to annex it by force to the northern part. Resistance was weak, even after the arrival of additional UN forces. However, Kim Il Sung's army was unable to cope with Douglas MacArthur's army, which landed at Incheon. Kim Il Sung's troops were defeated and retreated. The war in the region of the 38th parallel lasted two more years.

In 1953, the long-awaited peace was signed. For more than forty years, the troops of the South and North have been occupying positions against each other along the demarcation line, which runs along the 38th parallel. After the armistice, Kim Il Sung was still able to consolidate his power. In 1956, the last opposition forces inside the country were suppressed. In 1972, he became president, while retaining full military and civilian power. Time passed, and the DPRK moved away from both China and the USSR. Kim Il Sung has planted a cult of his personality in the country. His country lagged behind its southern neighbors in development. Quite often, Kim Il Sung had difficulties in supplying the country with food. In the 1980s, Kim Il Sung's son succeeded his father. In 1994, Kim Il Sung died, and power was concentrated in the hands of Kim Jong Il. Kim Il Sung was far from being a great leader and commander, he depended on China and the Soviet Union. However, we must remember that North Korea is hostile towards South Korea, Japan, the United States, and the regime established in the country by Kim Il Sung still exists.