Founding father of the socialist kingdom in Korea: Who is Kim Song Chu or Kim Il Sung?

KIM IL SUNG was born on 15.04.1912 in Magyongdae, as a child of a farmer family. In 1925, they migrated to Manchuria due to a lack of productivity and hunger in their region. Here Sung joined the Communist Youth Association and subsequently became a member of the Communist Party.

When his official biography is examined, Sung is described as a born revolutionary. Of course, as you know, there is always exaggeration in such state-published biographies. Again, according to this biography, when he was only 14 years old, he formed a revolutionary union and fought against the Japanese.

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

Again, according to this information, Sung defeated the Japanese on 15.10.1945 and forced them to surrender. When we look at the essence of the matter, this story that has been historically believed by an entire people is not actually like that. Sung indeed established a guerrilla structure, and it can be accepted that he fought alongside this structure and even repelled the Japanese troops in 1941; However, it is clear as day that the stories of victory told afterwards are completely unfounded.

As a matter of fact, after his minor success in 1941, Sung, who was weakened against Japanese reinforcements, had to take refuge in the Soviet Union. During this time, he received training in guerrilla warfare and worked on behalf of the Red Army.

In 1945, under pressure from the Soviets, Japan was forced to withdraw from Korea. Sung came to Pyongyang upon this news. However, he was wearing a Red Army uniform. "Sung", whose real name was "Kim Song Chu", changed his name to Kim II Sung, inspired by legendary figures in Korean history. He was brought to the management of the new state established with Soviet support. His first speech was given to him by the Red Army and he had to read it verbatim.

Sung established an interim government in 1947 and took steps towards the unification of the two states (North and South Korea). When these efforts failed, he founded the Communist People's Republic of Korea in 1948. His first actions were land reform and the creation of a strong army. Believing that his army had reached sufficient strength, Sung ordered his army to enter South Korea on 05.06.1950. Sung, who had successful results at first, began to suffer defeats after the intervention of the United Nations military units.

Sung was able to maintain its current borders with the support of China, and this border was approved by the Panjumon Armistice agreement dated 27.07.1953. After the border was officially approved, Sung closed his country to the rest of the world by building one of the strongest borders in the world. Sung, who could not get the result he wanted in the war, eliminated all the forces he saw as rivals or opponents in a cleansing move to strengthen his authority in his country. He created a strong cult structure around himself. To create this structure, he filled his people with the fear of powerful enemies. He declared himself the only savior by making vocal propaganda throughout the country to brainwash people. Setting out to change some historical information, Sung took the dictatorial regime to the strongest point it could be.

By 1972, Sung, who had all the administrative rights in the country in his hands, adopted the logic of independence in foreign policy. While doing this, he did not neglect to benefit from the conflict between China and the Soviet Union and the conflict between East and West. In Foreign Policy, it lost the economic conflict with South Korea. Closing his country to South Korea's economic partners was one of the biggest reasons for this. Sung exaggerated the dictatorship business so much that he turned North Korea into a family country.

By placing blood relatives in all important positions in the country, Sung managed to keep his power as secure as possible. For example, he appointed his wife, Kim Song Ae, as president of the Democratic Women's League. Subsequently, he accepted his son into his country as the next leader. When he turned 80, he started to warm up to his son by appointing him to head the army and he died two years later, on 08.07.1994. When Sung passed away in the capital Pyongyang, he made history as the longest-serving person in power of the 20th century.