By The Chinese media has recently issued an article that provides details about the Kim family in North Korea:
Kim Jong-il’s elusive family was the subject of an article in World Affairs, a biweekly published under the Chinese Foreign Ministry, it emerged last week. Experts say it is unusual for an important official publication in China to dwell on the Kim dynasty.
World Affairs revealed that Kim Il-sung died of a heart attack upon hearing of the death of his old comrade Jo Myong-son on July 8, 1994. Jo was Kim’s former subordinate in the partisan guerrilla and later head of Kang Gun Military Academy. The magazine reported that Kim Il-sung had tried to develop nuclear weapons since the 1950s.
Kim had three wives. Kim Jong-sook, a former partisan comrade now revered as the “Mother of the Nation,” gave him two sons, Jong-il (born 1942) and Man-il (born 1944, drowned in 1947), as well as a daughter, Kyong-hee (born 1946, currently the light industry department head of the North Korean Workers’ Party). But Kim Il-sung was apparently already married, to Han Song-hee. Born in Gangwon Province in 1914, Han moved to Northeast China, joined the Communist reading group organized by Kim Il-sung, and married him in 1937, the magazine said. “Further details are unfortunately hazy.”
Kim married Kim Song-ae in 1953 and had two sons (Pyong-il and Yong-il) and a daughter (Kyong-jin). Kyong-jin married Kim Gwang-sop, the current ambassador to Austria, and Pyong-il, after losing a power struggle with Kim Jong-il, served as ambassador to Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland, and is now ambassador to Poland. Kim Yong-il died of liver disease after spending some time in Germany and Malta.
The magazine evaluated Kim Jong-il as an observant and analytical individual who learned from early age how to win the affections of his father. The official Rodong Shinmun in February 1974 reported that he effectively commanded the same authority as his father, meaning that Kim junior had consolidated his position as the heir apparent. [Chosun Ilbo]
Read the rest of the article for some more interesting, but not really groundbreaking notes about the Kim family.
8:11 pm on September 2nd, 2009 1
One thing stands out, and that is Kim Jong Ils preference for secretaries. Not that any of his marriges seemed to have made any difference as to he was playing hide the salami with.
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