Cinema in the land of comrade Kim

Comrade: The Making, Glory and Unmaking of a Dictator

Beyond Utopia

Nordkorea – Die Macht der Kim-Dynastie

How to Become a Tyrant

North Korea: Inside The Mind of a Dictator

Korea, A Hundred Years of War

Korea: The Never-Ending War

The Lovers and the Despot

The Propaganda Game

I Am Sun Mu

Kim Jong-un: The Unauthorized Biography

Dennis Rodman's Big Bang in PyongYang

The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu

Crossing the Line

The Dictator's Cut

Always Working Together for the People

North Korea: The Parade

Blue Days

Country of Orchards

President Kim Il Sung Met Foreign Heads of State and Prominent Figures April 1970-December 1975

The Flower Girl

Sea of Blood

Kim Il Sung (; Korean: 김일성, Korean pronunciation: [kimils͈ʌŋ] ; born Kim Song Ju; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he led as Supreme Leader from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. Afterwards, he was succeeded by his son Kim Jong Il and was declared Eternal President.
He held the posts of the Premier from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to 1994. He was the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) from 1949 to 1994 (titled as chairman from 1949 to 1966 and as general secretary after 1966). Coming to power after the end of Japanese rule over Korea in 1945 following Japan's surrender in World War II, he authorized the invasion of South Korea in 1950, triggering an intervention in defense of South Korea by the United Nations led by the United States. Following the military stalemate in the Korean War, a ceasefire was signed in July 1953. He was the third-longest serving non-royal head of state/government in the 20th century, in office for more than 45 years.
Under his leadership, North Korea was established as a totalitarian socialist personalist dictatorship with a centrally planned economy. It had very close political and economic relations with the Soviet Union. By the 1960s, North Korea had a slightly higher standard of living than the South, which was suffering from political chaos and economic crises. The situation was reversed in the 1970s, as a newly stable South Korea became an economic powerhouse which was fueled by Japanese and American investment, military aid and internal economic development, while North Korea's economy stagnated and then collapsed. Differences emerged between North Korea and the Soviet Union; chief among them was Kim Il Sung's philosophy of Juche, which focused on Korean nationalism and self-reliance. Despite this, the country received funds, subsidies and aid from the USSR and the Eastern Bloc until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.
The resulting loss of economic aid negatively affected North Korea's economy, contributing to widespread famine in 1994. During this period, North Korea also remained critical of the United States defense force's presence in the region, which it considered imperialist, having seized the American ship USS Pueblo in 1968. This was part of an infiltration and subversion campaign to reunify the peninsula under North Korea's rule. Kim outlived his allies, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong, by over four and almost two decades, respectively, and remained in power during the terms of office of six South Korean Presidents and ten United States Presidents. Known as the Great Leader (Suryong), he established a far-reaching personality cult which dominates domestic politics in North Korea. At the 6th WPK Congress in 1980, his oldest son Kim Jong Il was elected to be a Presidium member and chosen to be his successor, thus establishing the Kim dynasty.



Kim Il-sung