View source for Kim Man-il

{{Refimprove|date=January 2012}}
'''Kim Man-il''' ({{korean|hangul=김만일|hanja=金萬一}}; 1944–1947/8) was the second son and child of [[North Korea]]n leader [[Kim Il-sung]] and his first wife, [[Kim Jong-suk]]. 

Soviet records show that he was born '''Alexander Irsenovich Kim''' ({{lang-ru|Александр Ирсенович Ким}}) in 1944 in the [[Russia]]n village of [[Vyatskoye, Khabarovsk Krai|Vyatskoye]]. Inside his family, he was nicknamed ''Shura''. Official North Korean biographies state that Shura and his older brother [[Kim Jong-il]] got along very well and played together.<ref>Both Jerrold Post in {{Cite journal|author=Post, Jerrold M. |year=2008 |title=Kim Jong-Il of North Korea: In the shadow of his father |journal=International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies |volume=5|issue=3|pages=191–210}} and Robert Davison who publishes ''The Inquisitor'' cite  North Korean defector Yi Ki-bong (이기봉, 李基奉) for statements that shed some doubt on this. Davison quotes from Yi's book, ''What Kind of Man is Kim Jong II [sic: Kim, Chŏng-il]'' (most likely Yi's chapter in ''민족사 입장 에서 본 김 일성 정권''): “Kim was very mischievous when a child. When he saw an insect, he trampled on it. After Korea’s liberation from Japanese occupation, the Kim II-sung family lived in a house in Mansu-tong, Central District, P’yongyang. In the early summer of 1948, his younger brother, Shura (then three years old) drowned. Kim Jong II was there at the time. I learned later how the accident occurred. The two brothers were playing in the pond right by the edge. Kim Jong II raised his face faster than his brother, and pushed his brother’s face back into water. He did that over and over.” {{Cite web|author=Davison, Robert|title=Despot of the Week #5 – Kim Jong II |date=26 August 2009 |url=https://robertod.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/despot-of-the-week-5-kim-jong-ii/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830223323/http://robertod.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/despot-of-the-week-5-kim-jong-ii/ |archivedate=30 August 2009 |deadurl=no}} </ref>

North Korean based sources claim that in the summer of 1947 or 1948, Shura and his brother were playing in a pond in the city of [[Pyongyang]], when Shura accidentally drowned.<ref>None of the sources appear to be entirely authoritative, and many show a bias towards or opposed to the Kim regime. {{Cite web|title=Kim Family |publisher=North Korea Leadership Watch  |url=https://nkleadershipwatch.wordpress.com/kim-family/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150717111813/https://nkleadershipwatch.wordpress.com/kim-family/ |archivedate=17 July 2015 |deadurl=no}} gives a date of July 1947. Sources such as {{Cite book|author=Behnke, Alison |year=2008 |title=Kim Jong Il's North Korea |edition=first |location=Minneapolis, Minnesota |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |page=45 |isbn=978-0-8225-7282-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1FaXAgAAQBAJ}} give a generic 1947. While sources like {{Cite book|year=2002|title=North Korea: General Secretary Kim Jong-il Handbook |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=International Business Publications|page=38 |isbn=978-0-7397-6344-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=baRrfmjDnbYC}} give a generic 1948.</ref> Russian sources indicate that he drowned in a well in Vyatskoye, prior to the family moving back to Korea.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Chung Byoung-sun|date=22 August 2002|title=Sergeyevna Remembers Kim Jong Il|newspaper=Chosunilbo|url=http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200208/200208220040.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20021124073259/http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200208/200208220040.html|archivedate=24 November 2002|deadurl=yes}}</ref> Official records state that Kim Jong-il was devastated and could never get over the trauma of losing his younger brother. In 1949, his mother, [[Kim Jong-suk]] died while giving birth to a stillborn girl.

{{Kim Jong-il family}}

==Notes and references==
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{{Family of Kim Jong-il}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Man-il}}
[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:1940s deaths]]
[[Category:People from Khabarovsky District]]
[[Category:North Korean people]]
[[Category:Koryo-saram]]
[[Category:Year of death uncertain]]
[[Category:Kim dynasty (North Korea)]]
[[Category:Deaths by drowning]]
[[Category:Children of national leaders]]
[[Category:20th-century North Korean people]]