A historic photo of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung giving a speech during a Workers Party Assembly. Historic photo  (1949)

Kim Ilsung ( Korean , kimils born Kim Sngju () 15 April 1912 8 July 1994) was the leader of North Korea from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of Premier from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to 1994. He was also the leader of the Workers'

The extraordinary true story of a West African girl's upbringing in North Korea under the guardianship of President Kim Il Sung. In 1979, aged only seven, Monica Macias was sent from West Africa to the unfamiliar surroundings of North Korea by her father, the President of Equatorial Guinea, to be educated under the guardianship of his ally, Kim Il Sung. Within months, her father was executed in a military coup; her mother became unreachable.Effectively orphaned, she and two siblings had to make their life in Pyongyang. At military boarding school, Monica learned to mix with older children, speak fluent Korean and handle weapons on training exercises. Reaching adulthood, she went in search of her roots.Spending time in Madrid, Malabo, New York, Seoul and finally London, at every step she had to reckon with others' perceptions of her adoptive homeland. Optimistic yet unflinching, Monica's astonishing and unique story challenges us to see the world through different eyes.

The story of how the North Korean Communists transformed from a political organisation to an institutionalised family dictatorship is a strange and bloody one, as North Korea leadership expert Michael Madden explains