Ko Yong-hui

This is a Korean name; the family name is Ko.
Ko Yong-hui
Native name 고용희
Born (1952-06-26)26 June 1952
Osaka, Japan
Died 24 May 2004(2004-05-24) (aged 51)
Paris, France
or August 2004 (aged 52)
Pyongyang, North Korea
Spouse(s) Kim Jong-il
Children Kim Jong-chul
Kim Jong-un
Kim Yo-jong
Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl 고용희
Hancha 高容姬
Revised Romanization Go Yonghui
McCune–Reischauer Ko Yonghŭi

Ko Yong-hui[1] (Hangul: 고용희; Hanja: 高容姬; 26 June 1952 – 24 May 2004),[2][3][4] also spelled Ko Young-hee, was the North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-il's consort and mother of North Korea's Supreme Commander, Kim Jong-un. Within North Korea she is only referred to by titles, such as "The Respected Mother who is the Most Faithful and Loyal 'Subject' to the Dear Leader Comrade Supreme Commander", "The Mother of Pyongyang", and "The Mother of Great Songun Korea."[5][6][7]

Biography

Ko was born in Ikuno, Osaka, Japan to parents of Korean descent.[8] Ko's birth date and Japanese name in Japanese official records are 26 June 1952 and Takada Hime, respectively.[4] It seems that her father Ko Gyon-tek worked in Osaka in a sewing factory run by Japan's ministry of war.[9][10] She along with her family moved to North Korea in May 1961 or in 1962 as part of a repatriation program.[4][11] In the early 1970s, she began to work as a dancer for the Mansudae Art Troupe in Pyongyang.[12] Her younger sister Ko Yong-suk sought asylum from the U.S. embassy in Bern, Switzerland while she was living there to take care of Kim Jong-un during his school days there, according to South Korea's National Intelligence Service; U.S. officials arranged Ko Yong-suk's departure from the country without consulting South Korean officials.[13]

It is thought that Ko and Kim Jong-il first met in 1972.[12] In 1981, Ko gave birth to son Kim Jong-chul, her first child with Kim. It was Kim's third child, after son Kim Jong-nam (born 1971 to Song Hye-rim), and daughter Kim Sul-song (born 1974 to Kim Young-sook). Kim Jong-il's second child with Ko, present North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un, followed between one and three years later after Jong-chul. Their third child, Kim Yo-jong, a daughter, was believed to be about 23 in 2012.[14][15] However, the birth year of Kim Yo-jong is also given as 1987.[12]

On 27 August 2004, various sources reported that she had died in Paris, probably of breast cancer.[16] However, there is another report, stating that she was treated in Paris in 2004 Spring and then flown back to Pyongyang where she fell into coma and died in August 2004.[17]

In 2012, Kim Jong Un built a grave for Ko on Mt. Taesong.[18][19]

Cult of personality

Under North Korea's songbun ascribed status system, Ko's Korean-Japanese heritage would make her part of the lowest "hostile" class. Furthermore, her grandfather worked in a sewing factory for the Imperial Japanese Army, which would give her the "lowest imaginable status qualities" for a North Korean.[4]

Prior to an internal propaganda film released after ascension of Kim Jong-un, there were three attempts made to idolize Ko, in a style similar to that associated with Kang Pan-sok, mother of Kim Il-sung, and Kim Jong-suk, mother of Kim Jong-il and the first wife of Kim Il-sung.[20] These previous attempts at idolization had failed, and they were stopped after Kim Jong-il's 2008 stroke.[4]

The building of a cult of personality around Ko encounters the problem of her bad songbun, even though it is usually passed on by the father.[21] Making her identity public would undermine the Kim dynasty's pure bloodline,[4] and after Kim Jong-il's death, her personal information, including name, became state secrets.[20] Ko's real name or other personal details have not been publicly revealed in North Korea, and she is referred to as "Mother of Great Songun Korea" or "Great Mother". The most recent propaganda film called its main character "Lee Eun-mi".

See also

References

  1. ↑ "North Korea leader lies in state". BBC. 18 December 2011. Archived from the original on 20 December 2011.
  2. ↑ Yoo Kwang-seok (9 December 2015). "김정은 이모부 "고영희 본명은 고용희…권력 비정함 때문에 망명"". KBS News (in Korean). Seoul. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  3. ↑ Kim Jong-hyeon (2 August 2012). "北 김정은 어머니 고영희 묘비명은 '고용희'". Yonhap (in Korean). Tokyo. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ko Young-ki (26 June 2012). "Happy Birthday, Koh Young Hee". Daily NK. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  5. ↑ Lintner, Bertil (2005) Great leader, dear leader: demystifying North Korea under the Kim Clan Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai, Thailand, page 107, ISBN 974-9575-69-5
  6. ↑ French, Paul (2007) North Korea: the paranoid peninsula — a modern history (2nd edition) Zed Books, London, page 267, ISBN 978-1-84277-905-7
  7. ↑ Yang Jung-a (30 June 2012). "North Korea: The Glorification Nation". Daily NK. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  8. ↑ Kokita, Kiyohito (1 December 2010). "Osaka black mark in Kim's life?". Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 3 December 2010.; see Kokita Kiyohito, Tessa Morris-Suzuki and Mark Selden, Ko Tae Mun, Ko Chung Hee, and the Osaka Family Origins of North Korean Successor Kim Jong Un, The Asia-Pacific Journal Vol 9, Issue 1 No 2, 3 January 2011.
  9. ↑ Ko Dong-hwan (24 December 2013). "NK leader's secret 'pro-Japanese' family history revealed". The Korea Times. Seoul. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  10. ↑ Mark Willacy, Kim Jong-un's grandfather 'was Japanese collaborator', ABC News 11 May 2012
  11. ↑ Takahashi, Kosuke (14 July 2012). "Young general comes out as mother's boy". Asia Times. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  12. 1 2 3 Ko Young-ki (31 May 2011). "Ko Young Hee Image Uncovered". Daily NK. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  13. ↑ "Kim Jong-un's aunt fled to U.S.; She and husband sought asylum in 1998, had cosmetic surgery". JoongAng Ilbo. 2013-11-05. Retrieved 2013-11-09.
  14. ↑ Lee Young-jong; Kim Hee-jin (8 August 2012). "Kim Jong-un's sister is having a ball". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  15. ↑ "Kim Yo Jong". North Korea Leadership Watch. 11 July 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  16. ↑ Hart, Joyce (2007) Kim Jong II: Leader of North Korea Rosen Publishing Group, New York, page 60, ISBN 978-1-4042-1901-4
  17. ↑ Brooke, James (27 August 2004). "A Mystery About a Mistress in North Korea". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  18. ↑ "Ko Yong-hui Grave". Radio Free Asia. 30 March 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  19. ↑ Curtis Melvin (8 April 2016). "Kim Jong-un's mother's grave (Ko Yong-hui)". NK Economy Watch. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  20. 1 2 Cho Jong-ik (30 July 2012). ""Great Mother" revealed to World". Daily NK. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  21. ↑ Andrei Lankov (3 December 2011). "North Korea's new class system". Asia Times. Retrieved 1 July 2012.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.