Kim Song-ae (; born Kim Song-pal; 29 December 1924 – September 2014) was a North Korean politician who served as the

first lady of North Korea The first lady of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (), more commonly known as the first lady of North Korea, is the title given to the wife of the supreme leader of North Korea. However, only two wives of the supreme leader have receive ...

from 1963 to 1974. She was the second wife of North Korea's founder,

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 ...

Biography

Born Kim Song-pal on 29 December 1924 in

South Pyongan Province South Pyongan Province (Phyŏngannamdo; ) is a province of North Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the southern half of the former Pyongan Province, remained a province of Korea until 1945, then became a province of North Korea. Its c ...

, Kim Song-ae began her career as a clerical worker in the Ministry of National Defense where she first met

in 1948. She was hired to work in his residence as an assistant to

Kim Jong-suk Kim Jong-suk (; 24 December 1917Suh Dae-sook. Kim Il Sung: The North Korean Leader. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988. – 22 September 1949) was a Korean anti-Japanese guerrilla, a Communist activist, North Korean leader Kim I ...

, 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 , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

she looked after Kim Jong-il and Kim Kyong-hui. She married Kim Il-sung in 1952, although due to the war no formal ceremony was held. One source indicates Kim Il-sung had had an affair with her even before his first wife died. She gave birth to three sons: Kim Kyong-jin (b. 1951),

Kim Pyong-il Kim Pyong-il ( ko, 김평일, ; born 10 August 1954) is the younger paternal half-brother of the former leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, and the only surviving son of former leader and president of North Korea Kim Il-sung. He worked as a dipl ...

(b. 1954), and Kim Yong-il (b. 1955). 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.Jang Jin-sung: Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee – A Look Inside North Korea, 2014 As her tenure of political significance occurred in about the same period as that of

Jiang Qing Jiang Qing (19 March 191414 May 1991), also known as Madame Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary, actress, and major political figure during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). She was the fourth wife of Mao Zedong, the Chairman of ...

in China during the culture revolution,

Jang Jin-sung Jang Jin-sung ( ko, 장진성; born c. 1970–1971) is the pseudonym of a North Korean poet and government official who defected to South Korea. He had worked as a psychological warfare officer within the United Front Department of the Korean Wor ...

referred to Kim Song-ae as the "North Korean mirror image of

". In 1965, she became vice-chairwoman of the Central Committee of the

Korean Democratic Women's League The Socialist Women's Union of Korea (; formerly the Korean Democratic Women's Union, KDWU; ) is a mass organization for women in North Korea. Founded in 1945 as the North Korea Democratic Women's League, it is the oldest and one of the most imp ...

(KDWL), and in 1971, she rose to be chairwoman.NF, New Focus. Kim Il-sung’s wife was declared insane over 20 years ago. Politics. Tuesday 18 September 2012
/ref> In December 1972, she became a representative of the People’s Supreme Assembly. According to Jang Jin-sung, Kim Song-ae had the ambition to place her son,

in the position of successor to her spouse

, rather than his son from his first marriage, Kim Jong-il. 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 brother

Kim Yong-ju Kim Yong-ju (; 1920 – 14 December 2021) was a North Korean politician and the younger brother of Kim Il-sung, who ruled North Korea from 1948 to 1994. Under his brother's rule, Kim Yong-ju held key posts including Politburo member in the Work ...

, and opposed by the faction of her stepson Kim Jong-il. In the 1970s, her influence was reportedly seen as excessive by the party, who started to curb it. In parallel, her stepson Kim Jong-il became the designated heir of

, and his faction worked to remove her from influence. 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. 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. 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. Since 1998, little information about her has reached the outside world. There are rumours that she was killed in a car accident in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

in June 2001. Other reports claimed she was still alive as of July 2011, though in poor health, and that

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. She was later reported to have died in 2014, a date which was confirmed by the

Ministry of Unification The Ministry of Unification is an executive department of the South Korean government aimed at promoting Korean reunification. It was first established in 1969 as the ''National Unification Board'', under the rule of Park Chung-hee. It gained its ...

in December 2018.

Awards

Grand Officer of the National Order of Mali, 18 May 1976 * PRK Order of Kim Il Sung BAR

Order of Kim Il-sung The Order of Kim Il-sung () is the highest order of North Korea, along with the Order of Kim Jong-il, and only second to one honorary title, the Hero of Labour. The order, named after the country's first leader Kim Il-sung, was instituted in 1 ...

, April 1982 *

National Order of the Republic (Burundi) - ribbon bar

National Order of the Republic (Burundi) * ROM Ordinul Steaua Republicii Populare Române clasa I BAR

Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic (1st Class)

Works

* *

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Song-ae 1924 births 2014 deaths Kim dynasty (North Korea) 20th-century North Korean women politicians 20th-century North Korean politicians Spouses of North Korean national leaders Workers' Party of Korea politicians Recipients of the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic Recipients of the Order of Kim Il-sung Grand Officers of the National Order of Mali People from South Pyongan

Biography

Awards

Works

See also

Notes

References