Hong Il-chon ( ko, 홍일천; born 1942) was the first wife of

Kim Jong-il Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Ki ...

. She was the daughter of a soldier who died during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

. In the early 1960s,

Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...

, father of Kim Jong-il, introduced her to his son and handpicked her to marry him in 1966. Her only daughter is named Kim Hye-gyong, born in 1968, and is the first child of Kim Jong-il. They divorced in 1969. Hong Il-chon held a degree in Russian Literature from

Kim Il-sung University Kim Il-sung University, founded on 1 October 1946, is the first university built in North Korea. It is located on a campus in Pyongyang, the nation's capital. Along with the main academic buildings, the campus contains 10 separate offices, 50 l ...

. After her divorce from

, she was still active in politics and educational affairs. She became one of the members of the

Supreme People's Assembly The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA; ) is the unicameral legislature of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. It consists of one deputy from each of the DPRK's 687 constituencies, elected to five-year ...

during the period between 1977 and 1991. After she withdrew from the Assembly, she was appointed as principal of

Kim Hyong Jik University of Education Kim Hyong Jik University of Education ( ko, 김형직사범대학) is a university in North Korea located in Tongdaewon-guyok, Pyongyang. History The school started as the Pyongyang Teacher Training College(평양교원대학) on October 1, 1946, ...

in September 1991. She retired from that post in July 2012 at the age of 70.

References

Living people People from Pyongyang 1942 births Kim dynasty (North Korea) {{NorthKorea-bio-stub