Kim Jong Un’s Step-Grandmother, North Korea's Former First Lady Reportedly Dead

Kim Song Ae, the former first lady of North Korea and the second wife of the nation’s founder, Kim Il Sung, has reportedly died, a source told Yonhap News on Wednesday.

When the media asked about Song Ae’s death, South Korea's unification ministry said there have been “related signs” but refused to reveal when or how she might have died.

“We will share more information when it is confirmed in detail," Baik Tae-hyun, a ministry spokesperson, told reporters during a regular briefing.

Song Ae served as the chair of the Korean Democratic Women’s Union (KDWU) and member of the central committee of Korean Workers Party (CC KWP) and Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA). She was considered one of the main political rivals of current North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s father and her stepson, Kim Chong Il, North Korea Leadership Watch reported.

Song Ae met Il Sung when she started working as a clerical secretary in the former Ministry of National Defense in 1948 and went on to become one of his secretaries at his official residence. After Il Sung’s wife, Kim Chong Suk, died in September 1949, she took over the reins of his household.

Although there were no formal accounts of a wedding ceremony between Il Sung and Song Ae, she was introduced as his wife and the first wife of DPRK in the 1960s. Soon she began meeting the wives of visiting heads of state and conducting tours around the country. In 1965, she was appointed the vice chair of KDWU.

In the 1970s, she traveled with her husband to Algeria, Bulgaria, Mauritania, Romania and the former Yugoslavia. As she increasingly appeared before the media, and was seen greeting foreign guests and conducting public work, her status as a first lady was elevated. She was elected a deputy (delegate) to the fifth SPA and a member of the Presidium (Standing Committee) in 1972.

While Song Ae had three children with Il Sung – Kim Kyong Chin, Kim Pyong Il, Kim Yong Il – there were rumors about her having a tensed relationship with her stepchildren – Chong Il and Kim Kyong Hui. Some local reports claimed that Kyong Hui refused to call her “mother” and Chong Il took issue with the fact that Song Ae did not demonstrate sufficient deference to him. Song Ae was also accused of not feeding her stepchildren after their mother’s death and even giving them rotten food.

Song Ae threw her support behind her son, Pyong Il, when he laid claims to the title of North Korea’s leader and went up against his stepbrother. While the two of them managed to form a small patronage network, by the end of 1970s, it disintegrated. Il Sung’s second wife was accused of violating the monolithic ideological system and exiled from the country. After that, the North Korean media began censoring the once widely circulated images of her political activities. In fact, her picture has not appeared in any of the country’s media outlets since 1998.

Although she was reelected as a member of the party central committee at the 6th party congress in October 1980 and a deputy to the 9th Supreme People’s Assembly in 1990, she merely served as a figurehead.

After her husband’s demise in 1994, Song Ae was reportedly placed under house arrest in the remote Chamo Mountain House outside of Pyongsong, South Pyongan Province.