Kim Il

Born Mar. 20, 1910, in Hamgyong-Pukto province. Political figure and statesman of the Korean Democratic People’s Republic. Son of a peasant.

Kim Il was active in the anti-Japanese partisan struggle. After Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule (1945), he engaged in party work for the Worker’s Party of Korea, serving as secretary of the party committee of Pyongan-Pukto province. Beginning in 1946, he held important positions in the army. From 1954 to 1959 he was deputy chairman, and from 1959 to 1972 first deputy chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Korean Democratic People’s Republic. In 1972 he became premier of the Administrative Council of the KDPR. He is a member of the Political Committee of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, and secretary of the CC of the WPK.