Tension is growing in the Korean Peninsula as North Korea has warned it could trigger a nuclear war with the US “at any moment”.
Yet despite the looming threat of an armed conflict in Asia, thousands of North Koreans will gather tomorrow to pay tribute to their eternal leader Kim Il-sung.
The Day of the Sun will mark the 105th anniversary of the North Korean founder’s birthday and experts belive it will be day for nuclear tests.
NORTH KOREANS PREPARE FOR THE DAY OF THE SUN – CLICK HERE TO READ
Who is Kim Il-Sung?
Kim Il-sung is the supreme leader and founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
He is believed to have been born on April 15, 1912, in the small village of Mangyungbong near Pyongyang, as Kim Sŏng-ju.
Kim was the eldest of three children brought up in a poor Presbyterian family, living under a Japanese occupation.
The fate of the ruling Kim's family of North Korea, the world's only hereditary totalitarian Stalinist state.
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KIM JONG-SUK: North Korean founder Kim Il-sung and his first wife Kim Jong-suk gave birth to their son Kim Jong-il in 1941.
The official story of his family claims it was involved in anti-Japanese activity in the 1920s after the occupation of the Korean peninsula in 1910.
On October 17, 1926, the young Kim founded the Down-With-Imperialism Union (DIU) in China, to fight Japanese imperialism and promote Marxism-Leninism.
The DIU’s formation was the roots of the Worker’s Party of Korea which would in the upcoming years change the political landscape of the region.
After joining the Communist Party of China in 1931, Kim also joined various anti-Japanese guerrilla groups operating in Northern China.
KIM JONG-UN FAMILY TREE – CLICK HERE TO READ
Over the next ten years he rose in the ranks and led his own guerrilla troops under the Communist Party. In 1935 he took the name Kim Il-sung – “Kim become the sun”.
When the USSR declared war on Japan in 1945, the Red Army marched into Pyongyang on August 24 and a communist regime was instilled.
Personally recommended to Joseph Stalin by Marshal Lavrentiy Beria, Kim became chairman of the North Korean branch of the Korean Communist Party.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was officially proclaimed on September 9, 1948, with Kim at its helm.
Despite the United Nation’s attempt to host democratic elections, Kim Il-sung had consolidated his position in the north.
The Soviet Union further legitimised Kim’s rule by recognising his government’s right to the entire Korean peninsula – including the Korean Republic in the south.
By 1949 the Worker’s Party of Korea had totalitarian control of the north and a year later invaded the south, triggering the Korean War.
After the war ended in 1953 and the heavily armed border between the north and south was drawn, Kim Il-sung had built a cult of personality around himself that dictates North Korean till today.
Today there are over 500 statues of the supreme leader throughout the hermit state, and his imagery is venerated by the people.
It is believed newlyweds in North Korea celebrate by taking flowers to a statue of Kim immediately after their wedding.
The communist leader himself has been married twice, first to Kim Jong-suk with whom he had his first son Kim Jong-il. He also had one other son and daughter with her.
After Jong-suk died in 1949, he married Kim Sung-ae in 1952. He had three children from this marriage and one of his children, Kim Pyong-il, has been the ambassador to the Czech Republic since 2015.
Kim died on July 8, 1994, after suffering a sudden heart attack at the age of 82.
The death triggered a 10 day period of national mourning with hundreds of thousands of people flown in to the capital for the occasion.
His body is interned in the the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where it lies preserved for people to see. His face is covered with the flag of the Workers' Party of Korea.
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