Korea: North Korean (DPRK) propaganda mosaic showing Kim Jong-suk (December 24, 1917 – September 22, 1949), Korean independence activist and Communist politician. Photo by Mark Fahey (CC BY 2.0 License)
Kim Jong-suk was born December 24, 1917 to Kim Chun San and Oh Ssi, who were poor farmers in Osan-dong, Hoeryong County, in the North Hamgyong Province of Japanese-occupied Korea. In 1922 her family abandoned Korea to live in China. Kim Jong-suk joined the Young Communist League of Korea, led by Kim Il-sung, on July 10, 1932.
Later, on April 25, 1936, she was assigned to the KPRA main unit directly under the command of Kim Il-sung. Kim Jong-suk was formally admitted into the Communist Party on January 25, 1937. Kim Jong-suk gave birth to Kim Jong-il on February 16, 1941 in the Soviet village of Vyatskoye, near Khabarovsk.
On September 22, 1949, Kim Jong-suk died at the age of 31 while giving birth to a stillborn baby girl. Known in North Korea as 'The Heroine of the Anti-Japanese Revolution', the North Korean government conferred the title of Hero of the DPRK on her on September 21, 1972; her image is used as part of the propaganda apparatus of the Workers Party of Korea (WPK), in which she is portrayed as a revolutionary woman. She is credited as the founder of the WPK's auxiliary organizations, the Korean Children's Union and the Korean Democratic Women's Union, among others.
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