Kim Song-ae (Korean: 김성애; MR: Kim Sŏngae; 29 December 1924 – September 2014), born Kim Sŏngp'al (김성팔),[2] was a North Korean politician who served as the first lady of North Korea during the time that the position existed, from 1963 to 1974[citation needed]. She was the second wife of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung from their marriage in 1952 until his death in 1994.
Biography
Born Kim Sŏngp'al on 29 December 1924 in South Pyongan Province,[3][4] Kim Song-ae began her career as a clerical worker in the Ministry of National Defense where she first met Kim Il Sung in 1948. She was hired to work in his residence as an assistant to Kim Jong Suk, Kim Il Sung's first wife. After Kim Jong Suk's 1949 death, Kim Song-ae began managing Kim Il Sung's household and domestic life. During the Korean War she looked after Kim Jong Il and Kim Kyong Hui.[3] She married Kim Il Sung in 1952, although due to the war no formal ceremony was held. She gave birth to three sons: Kim Kyong Jin (b. 1952), Kim Pyong Il (b. 1954), and Kim Yong Il (b. 1955).[5]
Kim Song-ae later rose in political power. From the mid 1960s until the mid 1970s, Kim Song-ae allegedly held a significant amount of political influence in North Korea.[6] As her tenure of political significance occurred in about the same period as that of Jiang Qing in China during the Culture Revolution, Jang Jin-sung referred to Kim Song-ae as the "North Korean mirror image of Jiang Qing".[6]
According to Jang Jin-sung, Kim Song-ae had the ambition to place her son, Kim Pyong Il in the position of successor to her spouse Kim Il Sung, rather than his son from his first marriage, Kim Jong Il.[6] In this, she was supposedly supported by a faction of the North Korean political elite, among them her brother Kim Kwang Hop, and Kim Il Sung's younger brother Kim Yong-ju, and opposed by the faction of her stepson Kim Jong Il.[6] In the 1970s, her influence was reportedly seen as excessive by the party, who started to curb it.[6] In parallel, her stepson Kim Jong Il became the designated heir of Kim Il Sung, and his faction worked to remove her from influence.[6][7] In 1976, Kim Song-ae lost her position as chair of the KDWL, which removed her communication channel to the public and effectively curbed her power base.[6] Reportedly, Kim Song-ae, as well as her brother-in-law Kim Yong-ju, who had supported her plans to place her son in the position of heir instead of Kim Jong Il, was placed in house arrest in 1981 upon the wish of the designated heir Kim Jong Il.[6]
In 1993, she was reinstated by Kim Jong Il as chair of the KDWL, but her position was purely symbolic and nominal, and she was removed a second time in 1998.[8] Since 1998, little information about her has reached the outside world.[9]
There are rumours that she was killed in a car accident in Beijing in June 2001.[9] Other reports claimed she was still alive as of July 2011, though in poor health, and that ambassador Kim Pyong-il returned to Pyongyang from his posting in Poland to visit her. In 2012, a report from a North Korean defector claimed that Kim Song-ae had been declared insane in the early 1990s, even before the death of Kim Il Sung, and since then been kept under supervision of a psychiatric nurse in her house arrest.[7]
She was later reported to have died in 2014,[2] a date which was confirmed by the Southern Ministry of Unification in December 2018.[10]
Kim Song-ae (1969). Let Us Women Become Revolutionary Fighters Infinitely Loyal to the Party and Reliable Builders of Socialism and Communism by Revolutionizing and Working-classizing Ourselves. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. OCLC253679297.
— (1970). On the Women's Emancipation Movement in Korea. Report at the Meeting Held in Honour of the 25th Anniversary of the Founding of the Korean Democratic Women's Union, November 17, 1970. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. OCLC1012367.
^To keep the tree of manageable size, it omits five out of the seven known legitimate children of Kim Il Sung. Other children not shown in the tree are: Kim Man-il (1944-1947; child of Kim Jong Suk), Kim Kyong-jin (1952-; child of Kim Song-ae), Kim Yong-il (1955-2000; child of Kim Song-ae), and Kim Kyong Suk (1951-; child of Kim Song-ae). A stillborn daughter is also omitted. Kim Il Sung was reported to have had other children with women who he was not married to; they included Kim Hyŏn-nam (born 1972). Also, only some of the descendants of Kim Jong Il and Kim Jung Un (Kim Il Sung's successors) are included.
^Korean names often have a variety of transliterations into English, which can be confusing. For example, "Kim Jong-chul" may also be written "Gim Jeong-cheol" or "Kim Jŏng-ch'ŏl" among many other variations. See Korean romanization for more information.
^Official North Korean biographies of Kim Jong Il list his birth year as 1942. The Korean calendar is based upon the Chinese zodiac which is believed to characterize one's personality. The year 1942 (Year of the Horse), in addition to being 30 years since Kim Il Sung's birth may be viewed as a better year than others, thus creating a motive to lie about a birth year.
^Official North Korean biographies of Kim Jong Un list his birth year as 1982. The Korean calendar is based upon the Chinese zodiac which is believed to characterize one's personality. The year 1982 (Year of the Dog), in addition to being 70 years since Kim Il Sung's birth, may be viewed as a better year than others, thus creating a motive to lie about a birth year.
^Birth year for Kim Ju-ae is not publicly known. She may have been born in either late 2012 or early 2013.
