Ko Yong Hui
Ko Yong Hui (Ko Yo’ng-hu’i) was Kim Jong Il’s 4th wife, and mother of his three youngest children, including hereditary successor, Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n), and was said to be his favorite wife. Ko has been rumored to have been part of an ideological indoctrination campaign in the KPA conducted by the MPAF General Political Department around the time of her death in 2003.
Ko Yong Hui was born in June in 1952 in Osaka, Japan. She was the daughter of a Korean-Japanese judomaster professional wrestler and sports promote, Ko T’ae-mun, a native of Cheju Island, ROK The Ko family repatriated to the DPRK via Wo’nsan in 1960. Ko Yong Hui joined the Mansudae Art Troupe in the early 1970s. She met Kim Jong Il around 1974.
KJI established a household with Ko around 1980. She gave birth to KJI’s second son, Kim Jong Chol in September 1981, Kim Jong Un in January 1983 and Kim Yo Jong in September 1989. Ko was reportedly KJI’s favorite wife who could prepare his favorite foods. She also did not tolerate his mood swings and fits of depression. Ko was popular with KJI’s retinue and staff.
Ko Yong Hui had close ties to Kim Kyong Hui, KJI’s sister, as well as the late CC KWP Secretary Kim Yong Sun. She was reportedly close to KJI’s technical secretary, Kim Ok. According to several accounts, Ko proposed and advocated for the hereditary succession of one of her sons (Jong Chol or Jong Un) through her connections to Kim Jong Il’s Personal Secretariat. From 2002 to 2006, 150 essays appeared in the DPRK press under the byline “Ko Yong Hui” a cultural indication of a hereditary succession campaign, initially in support of Kim Jong Chol.
In 1994 Ko Yong Hui received medical treatment in France. She returned to Europe for additional medical treatments in 2003 and 2004. She died in Paris in 2004.
See also:
Baird, Merrily. Kim Chong-il Agonistes (Forthcoming 2010)
Fujimoto, Kenji and Shin, Hyon-ho. Kim Chŏng-il ŭi yorisa. Seoul: Wolgan Chosonsa, 2003.
Mansourov, Alexandre Y. “Inside North Korea’s Blackbox: Reversing the Optics” DPRK Policy Elites (Kongdan Oh Hassig, ed.) Alexandria, VA: Institute for Defense Analyses, 2004.
