“Kim Il-sung Persuaded Stalin to Invade the South”

It has been found out that the Soviet Union indicated Kim Il-sung as North Korea’s leader since the end of World War II and had been preparing to station its army in the Korean Peninsula.

Furthermore, it has been discovered that the 6.25 War was initiated by Kim Il-sung’s endless persuasion to invade the South despite the Soviet Union top leaders’ opposition to it.

On September 8, the state-owned Russian broadcast company broadcasted, celebrating 56 years of North Korea in power, a program called “Secrets of a Great Leader,” which contained stories of Kim’s accession to power and the 6.25 War.

Living witnesses in Russia, such as Kim’s adviser during the military administration of the Soviet Union—reserve Colonel Gregory Mcclair(95 years old), former North Korean Culture Promotion head Jung Sang-jin(Vice Minister, 86), and former North Korean political military school headmaster Jang Hak-bong’s(87) recollections and information have been made public.

The program analyzed these testimonies and reported, “Stalin first opposed the invasion of the South, fearing a collision with the U.S. However, when Kim Il-sung secretly visited them in February 1950 and persuaded them, saying that ‘now is the perfect time for unification,’ they quietly agreed.”

According to the report, the Soviet Union, on North Korea’s proposal, secretly sent 200 MIG jet fighters and pilots in the Chinese People Liberation Army Air Force uniforms to keep it a secret.

The program also dealt in-depth with the process of Kim Il-sung becoming the North’s great leader.

Right after the Yalta Pact in February 1945, the Soviet Union’s leader, Stalin, ordered the Far East Army Politics Division and Information Authority to search for the peninsula’s eligible leader. This was done in preparation of the peninsula’s division and the possibility of the Soviet Union army staying.

Out of eight candidates, Kim Il-sung, then the battalion commander of the 88 Special Brigade which was affiliated to the Soviet Union Far East Army, attracted the most attention. After exiling himself to the Soviet Union in 1940 in order to avoid the Japanese, Kim graduated from an officer mission school, which was affiliated to Khabarovsk Military School, and became a Soviet Union army captain.

Until Kim Il-sung returned home on September 19, 1945, he also used his real name, Kim Sung-joo. However, his youth and rough Korean resulted in citizens from the North having suspicions of whether he was the real General Kim Il-sung.

Following this, the Soviet Union gave Kim leadership lessons and led his propaganda and political maneuvering. They even wrote Kim’s speech for him and made Kim visit his birthplace, Mankyungdae, near Pyongyang.

The result of this effort: a proud “national leader” who took off the clothes of a guerrilla leader or a Soviet military officer by the time Kim publicly visited the Soviet Union in 1949.

Ki-Hyun Kim kimkihy@donga.com