{"id":35271,"date":"2017-12-18T16:45:46","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T07:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.dailynk.com\/en\/?p=35271"},"modified":"2026-05-29T12:55:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T03:55:04","slug":"north-korea-quietly-promotes-kim-j","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-quietly-promotes-kim-j\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea quietly promotes Kim Jong Un to \u2018Third General,&#8217; replacing his grandmother Kim Jong Suk"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>On August 14, 2016, North Korea opened the \u201cFifth International Festival in Praise of the Great Persons of Mt. Paektu,\u201d a celebration of the cult of personality surrounding the country\u2019s leadership. Kim Ki Nam, Vice Chairman of the Workers&#8217; Party and &#8220;honorable chairman of the International Preparatory Committee&#8221; for the event, joined delegates from the respective friendship associations of Nigeria, Japan, Russia, Denmark, and other countries. Chairman of the Australia-DPRK Friendship Association and &#8220;co-chairman of the Oceania Regional Preparatory Committee for Gathering 2017&#8221; Neil Fitzgerald read out the \u201c2017 Mt. Paektu Declaration\u201d at the meeting, which appeared in the Rodong Sinmun the following day.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>According to the declaration, Kim Jong Un has been quietly named one of the \u201cThree Generals of Mount Paektu.\u201d Prior to this development, the \u201cThree Generals\u201d were Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Suk (mother of Kim Jong Il,1917-1949), but last summer&#8217;s event appears to have replaced Kim Jong Suk with current leader Kim Jong Un. There are four points in the declaration that allude to this change.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>First, the event carried a different title in addition to the one mentioned above: \u201cThe Mt. Paektu Meeting for the Greeting Sun.\u201d The sun has been a common symbol of the North&#8217;s leaders over the years. Kim Il Sung was called the \u201cSun of Juche,\u201d Kim Jong Il the \u201cSun of Songun,\u201d and now Kim Jong Un is called the \u201cSun of the Earth.\u201d The first two \u201cimportant announcements\u201d in the event&#8217;s declaration also referenced the sun:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>1. &#8220;The Great Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are the sun of humankind alive in the era of independence.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>2. &#8220;Respected Kim Jong Un is the great sun of the 21st century who is leading the global cause of independence to brilliant victory.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The declaration also closed with, &#8220;Long live General Kim Jong Un, the sun of the 21st century.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Second, Kim Jong Suk&#8217;s name was not mentioned anywhere in the declaration, nor was any reference made to her. But before last summer&#8217;s Paektu event, her name was always associated with the &#8216;3 Generals&#8217; title. Her son Kim Jong Il named her the &#8220;Female General of Mt. Paektu&#8221; in 1998, and she became the \u201cThird General\u201d in 2005. Her status was also emphasized in propaganda in 2008, around the same time Kim Jong Un began to appear.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>She was also variously referred to as the \u201cMother of the Revolution,\u201d the \u201cMother of Joseon\u201d the \u201cMother of Songun,\u201d and other titles in an effort to propagandize her as a role-model for females across the nation. In this way, the figure of Kim Jong Suk was promoted in a similar fashion to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The adulation of Kim Jong Suk could be frequently seen in Chosun Woman, the primary magazine for women in the country (first published in 1946). A monthly glorification column began appearing in 1998 entitled, \u201cLet us follow the example of Kim Jong Suk &#8211; hero of the anti-Japanese revolutionary forces.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>However, after Kim Jong Un came to power in 2012, the column disappeared and was replaced with another entitled, \u201cThe Extraordinary Heaven-sent (Man).\u201d At the same time, she continued to be mentioned in another column titled, \u201cThe Infinitely Respected Three Generals of Mt. Paektu.\u201d This publication shows that she held the title of one of the &#8216;generals&#8217; up until the August 2017 summit.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Third, the declaration delineates the order of the \u201cThree Generals\u201d in the same way as it has in the past, but this time quite clearly replaces Kim Jong Suk with Kim Jong Un. With the sentence, &#8220;Today, we welcome progressive people possessing the virtues of happiness and glory under the great revolutionary spirit and leadership of the Great Persons of Mt. Paektu, along with another Great Person,&#8221; the declaration only mentions Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, but again omits Kim Jong Suk. And the other \u201cGreat Person\u201d refers to none other than Kim Jong Un.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Finally, the declaration connects Kim Jong Un directly to the concept of the \u201cGreat Mount Paektu Nation.\u201d The declaration reads, &#8220;The Great Mount Paektu\u201d nation is the banner of victory dynamically accelerating global independence with the might of justice and truth.&#8221; In an earlier sentence, it also uses the &#8216;Great Paektusan Nation&#8217; wording to describe the nation which &#8220;guardian His Excellency Kim Jong Un&#8221; is protecting, clearly connecting him directly to the \u201cMount Paektu\u201d title. North Korea officially declared itself the \u201cGreat Mount Paektu\u00a0 Nation\u201d in 2014, and so Kim Jong Un&#8217;s ascendancy to the position of \u201cThird General\u201d was perhaps inevitable.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>But why was there not a more overt announcement of his ascendancy?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It may be clear from the declaration that Kim Jong Un became the \u201cThird General\u201d on August 14, 2017, but the regime has not made any official announcement. With 2017 appearing to be the peak of Kim Jong Un idolization efforts, why would the regime not announce his ascendancy outright? Since Kim Jong Un&#8217;s word is ostensibly the highest in the land, he should expect nothing but cooperation if he were to make such an announcement. There are two potential reasons why this may not be the case.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The first may relate to a shift in ruling style between Kim Jong Il and his son. In his promotion of \u201cSongun (military-first) Politics,\u201d Kim Jong Il used Kim Jong Suk as a major medium for spreading his message, making her the central hero of the ideology. She was referred to as the \u201cMother of Songun,\u201d and elevated to the \u201cThird General\u201d in 2005 to help reinforce her image. By replacing her position as \u201cThird General,\u201d Kim Jong Un has signaled a slight departure from his father&#8217;s ruling style, which could potentially become an issue for him.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The second relates to how deeply the North Korean people came to understand Kim Jong Suk&#8217;s status as the \u201cThird General.\u201d First called the \u201cFemale General\u201d in 1998 and then the \u201cThird General\u201d next to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in 2005, her status was heavily promoted in propaganda. There was subsequently a nationwide propaganda movement in 2008 centered around the concept of the Three Generals, further ingraining this idea in the minds of the people. She continued to hold the title in various publications after Kim Jong Un came to power. It would thus be no small matter to the public for Kim Jong Un to suddenly change such a well-known aspect of national lore.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Consequently, the North Korean authorities have yet to make a more official announcement of Kim Jong Un&#8217;s ascension to the \u201cThird General,\u201d and the South Korean media have also yet to recognize the change. But it is likely that we will see some such announcement in the future.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><i>*Views expressed in Guest Columns do not necessarily reflect those of Daily NK.<\/i><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>For more information on this secretive family, check out our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/kim-jong-un-family-wife-daughter-children-sister-mother-everything-we-need-to-know\/\">comprehensive article on the Kim family.\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On August 14, 2016, North Korea opened the \u201cFifth International Festival in Praise of the Great Persons of Mt. Paektu,\u201d a celebration of the cult of personality surrounding the country\u2019s leadership. Kim Ki Nam, Vice Chairman of the Workers&#8217; Party and &#8220;honorable chairman of the International Preparatory Committee&#8221; for the event, joined delegates from the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":35273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[644],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-analysis-and-opinion"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>North Korea quietly promotes Kim Jong Un to \u2018Third General,&#039; replacing his grandmother Kim Jong Suk - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-quietly-promotes-kim-j\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"North Korea quietly promotes Kim Jong Un to \u2018Third General,&#039; replacing his grandmother Kim Jong Suk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On August 14, 2016, North Korea opened the \u201cFifth International Festival in Praise of the Great Persons of Mt. 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