Kang Pan Sok (; 21 April 1892 – 31 July 1932) was the mother of

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

n leader

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 led as its first Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader from North Korea#Founding, its establishm ...

, the paternal grandmother of

Kim Jong Il Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader of North Korea from Death and state funeral of Kim Il Sung, the de ...

, and a great grandmother of North Korean leader

Kim Jong Un Kim Jong Un (born 8 January 1983 or 1984) is a North Korean politician and dictator who has served as supreme leader of North Korea since 2011 and general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is the third son of Kim ...

Biography

She came from the village of Chilgol and raised Kim on a small farm in

Mangyongdae Mangyongdae () is a neighborhood in Mangyongdae-guyok, Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korean propaganda claims Mangyongdae is the birthplace of North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, although in his memoirs A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narra ...

, both near

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

. She accepted, but rarely participated in her husband's pro-independence activism. After the family fled to Manchuria to avoid arrest, she did not return to Korea. 21 April is a day of memorial for her in North Korea, when a wreath-laying ceremony is held at

Chilgol Revolutionary Site Chilgol () is a suburb of Pyongyang in the Mangyongdae District. Chilgol is known as the place where Kang Pan Sok, the mother of Kim Il Sung, North Korea's first leader, was born in 1892 and spent her childhood. The area features many buildings ...

Legacy

In North Korea, Kang Pan Suk is referred to as the "Mother of Korea" or "Great Mother of Korea". Both titles are shared with

's mother and

's grandmother

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 revolutionary, anti-Japanese guerrilla, Communist activist, the first wi ...

. However, it was Kang Pan Suk who was the first family member of Kim Il Sung to have a cult of personality of her own to supplement that of her son, from the late 1960s onwards. In 1967, ''

Rodong Sinmun ''Rodong Sinmun'' (; ) is a North Korean official newspaper of record of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. It was first published on 1 November 1945, as ''Chŏngro'' (), serving as a communication channel for the North ...

'' praised her as the "mother of all". The same year, the

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 ...

initiated a campaign called "Learning from Madame Kang Pan Suk". There is a song by the name of "Mother of Korea" in her honor, as well as a hagiographic biography, also called ''The Mother of Korea'' (1968). The

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

Chilgol Church Chilgol Church () is a Protestant church on Kwangbok Street, Kwangbok, Chilgol, Pyongyang, North Korea. It is one of two Protestant churches in the country. It is dedicated to Kang Pan-sok, a deaconess in the Presbyterian church who was the m ...

is dedicated to the memory of Kang Pan Sok, who was a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

. Her name meant "rock", having been named for

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

References

External links

''Chilgol Revolutionary Site'' picture album
at

Naenara Naenara () is the official web portal of the North Korean government. History Naenara was the first website in North Korea, and was created in 1996. Usage Naenara carries publications such as '' The Pyongyang Times'', ' magazine, '' Korea ...

Chilgol Revolutionary Site (video)
at Naenara {{DEFAULTSORT:Kang, Pan-Sok 1892 births 1932 deaths People from South Pyongan Province Korean women independence activists 20th-century North Korean women politicians Kim family (North Korea) North Korean Presbyterians Pan-sok Burials at the Revolutionary Martyrs' Cemetery

Biography

Legacy

References

Further reading

External links