She came from the village of Chilgol and raised Kim on a small farm in
Mangyongdae, both near
Pyongyang. 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.
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
Kim Jong Il's mother and
Kim Jong Un's grandmother
Kim Jong Suk.[2][3][4] 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 praised her as the "mother of all". The same year, the
Democratic Women's League initiated a campaign called "Learning from Madame Kang Pan Suk". There is a song by the name of "Mother of Korea" in her honor,[5] as well as a hagiographic biography, also called The Mother of Korea (1968).[6]
^To keep the tree of manageable size, it omits five out of the eight known children of Kim Il Sung. Other children not shown in the tree are:
Kim Man-il, Kim Kyong-jin, Kim Yong-il, Kim Hyŏn-nam, and Kim Yŏng-il
^Korean names often have a variety of transliterations into English, which can be confusing. For example, "Kim Jong-chul" may also be written "Gim Jeong-cheol" or "Kim Jŏng-ch'ŏl" among many other variations. See
Korean romanization for more information.
^Official North Korean biographies of Kim Jong Il list his birth year as 1942. The
Korean calendar is based upon the
Chinese zodiac which is believed to characterize one's personality. The year 1942 (Year of the Horse), in addition to being 30 years since Kim Il Sung's birth may be viewed as a better year than others, thus creating a motive to lie about a birth year.
^Official North Korean biographies of Kim Jong Un list his birth year as 1982. The
Korean calendar is based upon the
Chinese zodiac which is believed to characterize one's personality. The year 1982 (Year of the Dog), in addition to being 70 years since Kim Il Sung's birth, may be viewed as a better year than others, thus creating a motive to lie about a birth year.
^Birth year for Kim Ju-ae is not publicly known. She may have been born in either late 2012 or early 2013.
^Armstrong, Charles K. (December 2005). "Familism, Socialism and Political Religion in North Korea". Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions. 6 (3): 390.
doi:
10.1080/14690760500317743.
S2CID145497407.
^Kim, Suk-Yong (2011). "Dressed to Kill: Women's Fashion and Body Politics in North Korean Visual Media (1960s – 1970s)". Positions. 19 (1): 173.
doi:
10.1215/10679847-2010-028.
S2CID145149501.