조선일보: Democratic Party Rep. Apologizes for 'Kim Il-sung' Insult to Defector
- #news
- #headline
Figure timeline
Kim Il-sung
Kim Il Sung was a North Korean politician and communist revoluntary who founded the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), also known as North Korea, in 1948, and led the country from its establishment until his death in 1994. He was succeeded by his son Kim Jong Il and was posthumously declared Eternal President.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
politics · Leader of North Korea from 1948 to 1994 · politician · writer · partisan · memoirist · also Kim Il-sung, Kim Il Sung, Kim Il-sŏng, Il-sung
Born 15 April 1912 · Died 8 July 1994 · Q41117
59 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
14 photos · 2 audio
Listen
Ko-김일성
South–North Meeting (1948) – Speech of Kim Il Sung
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Award
- Award
2026· 4 entries
NK경제: Kim Il-sung University in North Korea Conducts Research on High-Speed Wireless Charging Technology for Electric Vehicles
- #news
- #headline
Encyclopaedia Britannica: Kim dynasty | North Korea, Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong-Un, & Possible Successors
- #news
- #headline
Public attention spiked: 10,038 Wikipedia readers in one day, 3.8× the usual 2,671, with 1 article edits. Editors noted: script-assisted date audit and style fixes per MOS:NUM
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #attention
- #spike
- #pageviews
2019· 1 entry
Investigative journalist Annie Jacobsen published the book Surprise, Kill, Vanish, which said that the U
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2015· 1 entry
Kim Pyong Il became the ambassador to the Czech Republic; he officially retired in 2019 and returned to North Korea
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1998· 1 entry
Career landmark: Eternal leaders of North Korea (1998).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1994· 3 entries
Died 1994-07-08.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
Which hangs at every North Korean train station and airport
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
“The people are the masters of the revolution in each country. It is like putting a cart before the horse that foreigners carry out the revolution for them. The revolution can neither be exported nor imported.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
1987· 3 entries
Awarded Order of the Victory of Socialism (1987).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Order of Klement Gottwald (1987).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Order of Playa Girón (1987).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1986· 3 entries
Awarded Order of José Martí (1986).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
A rumor spread that Kim had been assassinated, making the concern for Jong Il's ability to succeed his father actual
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Wrote later that it was Kim's own paranoia that prevented it from being operated on
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1984· 1 entry
Awarded Order of Eduardo Mondlane, 1st class (1984).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1982· 1 entry
Awarded Hero of the Republic (1982).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1980· 1 entry
His oldest son Kim Jong Il was elected to be a Presidium member and chosen to be his successor, thus establishing the Kim dynasty
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1973· 1 entry
Awarded Order of the White Lion (1973).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1972· 3 entries
Awarded Hero of the Republic (1972).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Order of Lenin (1972).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Career landmark: President of North Korea (1972–1994).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1971· 2 entries
Awarded Star of the Socialist Republic of Romania (1971).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
"Conversations with Kim Il Sung" at the Wilson Center Digital Archive
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1970· 1 entry
Won Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1970).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1969· 1 entry
By North Korean agents, the pilots and mechanics, and others with specialized skills, were the only ones never permitted to return to South Korea
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1967· 1 entry
A group of veterans of the anti-Japanese struggle of the 1930s and 1940s struggled Kim for leadership in what was known as the Kapsan faction incident
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1964· 1 entry
Kim's relations with the Soviet Union became closer
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1961· 1 entry
Implemented the Taean work system, which replicated the same system across industry
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1960· 1 entry
Implemented the Chongsanri method, which led to agriculture being directly controlled by local party cadres, with any pre-alteration of economic plans requiring pre-approval by a superior party organisation
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1958· 1 entry
Awarded Hero of Labor (1958).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1956· 3 entries
Was declared a factionalist and a traitor
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
North Korea rejected Nikita Khrushchev's program of de-Stalinization
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Joined Mao in the "anti-revisionist" camp, which did not accept Nikita Khrushchev's program of de-Stalinization
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1953· 2 entries
Awarded Hero of the Republic (1953).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Order of Freedom and Independence, 1st class (1953).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1952· 1 entry
And had four children with her: Kim Kyong Suk (1951–), Kim Kyong Jin (1952–), Kim Pyong Il (1954–), and Kim Yong Il (1955–2000, not to be confused with the former Premier of North Korea with the same name)
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1950· 3 entries
Triggering an intervention in defense of South Korea by the United Nations led by the United States
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Career landmark: Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army (1950–1991).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
Which triggered the Korean War, Stalin equipped the KPA with modern, Soviet-built medium tanks, trucks, artillery, and small arms
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1949· 1 entry
Career landmark: General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (1949–1994).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1948· 3 entries
Career landmark: Premier of North Korea (1948–1972).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
And led the country from its establishment until his death in 1994
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Career landmark: Supreme Leader of North Korea (1948–1994).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1946· 1 entry
To become the only mechanism through which North Koreans could receive any goods
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1945· 1 entry
Awarded Order of the Red Banner (1945).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1942· 1 entry
Was assigned to the Soviet Red Army, leading him to stay in the Soviet Union until 1945
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1940· 1 entry
The Japanese kidnapped a woman named Kim Hye-sun, believed to have been Kim Il Sung's first wife
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1937· 1 entry
At the age of 24, controlling a few hundred men in a group that came to be known as "Kim Il Sung's division"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1935· 2 entries
Kim took the name Kim Il Sung, meaning "Kim become the sun"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
To serve as political commissar for the 3rd detachment of the second division, consisting of around 160 soldiers
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1931· 2 entries
In which year northeast China was occupied by Japan
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Kim joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – 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
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1926· 2 entries
But found the academy's training methods outdated and quit it in 1927
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Though most scholarly sources reject this
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1919· 1 entry
Kim Hyong-jik participated in the anti-Japanese March First Movement
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1912· 1 entry
Born 1912-04-15.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth
1860· 1 entry
His great-grandfather, Kim Ŭngu, settled in the Mangyongdae neighborhood of Pyongyang
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event