Kim Il (politician)

Kim Il Korean: 김일; 20 March 1910 – 9 March 1984)^[1] was a North Korean politician who was served as Premier of North Korea from 28 December 1972 to 19 April 1976.^[2]

Early life and career

In 1966, Kim Il Sung did not deliver his usual New Year's address. Although the reason is not definitely known,[9] North Korean sources state that he was distracted by the news that Kim Il had been diagnosed with cancer and skipped the address to make arrangements for Kim's medical treatment.^[10]

In the 1960s, Kim furthered the North Korean position of independence from both the Soviet Union and China in the

Kim immediately became the Vice President, appointed by the SPA.^[1] His appointment was renewed on 15 December 1977. He served until his death in 1984,^[13][14][15] alongside Pak Sung-chul, also Vice President.^[3]

Kim was elected to the

In the light of the present complicated North-South relations... it is clear to everyone that a possible time for general elections is far off, and moreover it is not logical to hold general elections according to principles of national self-determination and democratic procedure while leaving foreign troops and maintaining the military fascist system in South Korea as they are. As for the formation of a Consultative Conference for National Reunification with those who represent the will of the people, it can only be regarded as mere empty talk under the present state of harsh repression where the conscientious people who speak for the demands of the popular masses are all cast into prison and their political activities banned by law in South Korea.... The US troops must be withdrawn from South Korea, democratization carried out there and the anti-communist confrontation policy brought to an end.

We are ready to meet the present South Korea rulers even tomorrow, if they show their new start by their deeds, by removing these obstacles blocking the way of national reunification. In that case the reunification consultative body to be organized may take any form-be it a conference for promotion of national reunification or a consultative council for national unification, we will not be nervous about its name. We only hold that the authorities of the North and the South and representatives of different parties and groupings and of all strata at home and abroad should participate in it, and that all reunification proposals to be raised, including the proposal for the establishment of the Democratic Confederal Republic of Koryo, and immediate questions for developing North-South relations in the interests of national reunification should be discussed.[20]

Three weeks later, Kim Il, in the capacity of Chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland,^[21][22] demanded that a conference of 50 people representing the North and 50 the South should be organized. The proposal included the names of the desired Southern representatives, who included prominent politicians of parties banned in South Korea in 1980, but none from its ruling party.^[20]

Kim spent much of 1982 receiving medical treatment in

• Kim Il (1964). "On the People's Economic Development Plan for 1968 for Carrying on More Successfully [sic] Economic Construction and Defence Upbuilding, in Face of the Obtaining Situation". Korea Today. (Supplement). No. 145.
  OCLC 122429262
  .
• — (1970). "Speech by First Vice-Premier Kim Il [Speeches at the Pyongyang Rally Marking the 'Day of Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism" (June 25, 1970)]". People of Asia: Unite and Drive the U.S. Agressors Out of Asia!. Peking: Foreign Languages Press. pp. 33–51.
  OCLC 204899
  .
• — (1974). On the Summing Up of the Implementation of the "Theses on the Socialist Rural Question in Our Country" Set Forth by the Respected and Beloved Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung and the Future Tasks: Report. Pyongyang:
  OCLC 8344966
  .
• Kim Il; et al. (1981). Twenty-year-long Anti-Japanese Revolution Under the Red Sunrays: June 1926 – August 1931. Vol. 1. Pyongyang:
  OCLC 873742698
  .
• —; et al. (1982). Twenty-year-long Anti-Japanese Revolution Under the Red Sunrays: September 1931 – February 1936. Vol. 2. Pyongyang:
  OCLC 914716941
  .
• —; et al. (1984). Twenty-year-long Anti-Japanese Revolution Under the Red Sunrays: February 1936 – October 1938. Vol. 3. Pyongyang:
  OCLC 923269976
  .
• —; et al. (1986). Twenty-year-long Anti-Japanese Revolution Under the Red Sunrays: November 1938 – August 1940. Vol. 4. Pyongyang:
  OCLC 812696881
  .
• —; et al. (1988). Twenty-year-long Anti-Japanese Revolution Under the Red Sunrays: August 1940 – August 1945. Vol. 5. Pyongyang:
  OCLC 812696872
  .