Song of General Kim Il Sung

{{Short description|North Korean patriotic song}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Song of General Kim Il Sung

| cover = "Song of General Kim Il-sung" sheet music cover.jpg

| caption = Sheet music cover

| type = song

| language = Korean

| written = 1946

| genre = March

| length = 2 minutes (Original)

| lyricist = Ri Chan

| composer = Kim Won-gyun

| misc = {{Audio sample

| type = song

| file = My Home Village (1949) – Song of General Kim Il Sung.opus

}}

}}

{{Infobox Korean name|context=north|hangul=김일성 장군의 노래|hanja=金日成 將軍의 노래|rr=Gim Ilseong Janggun ui Norae|mr=Kim Ilsŏng Changgun ŭi Norae}}

The "Song of General Kim Il Sung" (Korean: 김일성 장군의 노래) is a North Korean marching song composed by Kim Won-gyun in 1946. As a part of an ongoing cult of personality, the song praising Kim Il Sung, North Korea's "Eternal President", who died in 1994, is still widely played in the country. It is often considered to be the de facto national anthem in North Korea.

The song is a four-square march. It features paired two bar phrases in an A-B-A form,{{cite book|author1=Collège de France|author2=Ok Yi|author3=Daniel Bouchez|author4=Yun-ik Chang|title=Cahiers d'études coréennes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-GZkAAAAMAAJ|year=2000|publisher=Centre dʹEtudes Coréennes du Collège de France|page=112}} with dotted rhythms. Percussion and brass instrumentation is intended to enhance the revolutionary tone of the song.

The song, composed in 1946, is the earliest known work of art mentioning Kim Il Sung, and thus can be said to mark the beginning of his personality cult.{{cite book|author=Jae-Cheon Lim|title=Leader Symbols and Personality Cult in North Korea: The Leader State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yswqBwAAQBAJ&pg=PP2|accessdate=25 April 2015|date=24 March 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-56741-7|page=29}}

In the early 1980s Kim Jong Il began promoting the song and it has since replaced "Aegukka", the national anthem, as the most important song and the de facto anthem played in public gatherings in the country. North Koreans typically know the lyrics by heart,{{cite book|author=Eddie Burdick|title=Three Days in the Hermit Kingdom: An American Visits North Korea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g3TJ_-Tw3q0C&pg=PA248|year=2010|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-5653-6|page=248}} though this seems to have changed under his grandson, Kim Jong Un.

File:My Home Village (1949) – Song of General Kim Il Sung.webm]]

File:Boy Partisans (1951) – Mandarin Chinese dub, Song of General Kim Il Sung.webm]]

The first two bars of the song are used as an interval signal on North Korean radio and television. According to North Korean sources, their satellites Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1, launched in 1998,{{cite book|author1=Brian Harvey|author2=Henk H. F. Smid|author3=Theo Pirard|title=Emerging Space Powers: The New Space Programs of Asia, the Middle East and South-America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XD1ZaYbiWwMC&pg=PA477|year=2011|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-1-4419-0874-2|page=443}} and Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2, supposedly launched in a test on 5 April 2009, are broadcasting this song among other data.{{cite web|

url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7982874.stm|

title=Defiant N Korea launches rocket|

work=BBC News|

date=5 April 2009}}

Emulating a Buddhist tradition of carving sutras, its lyrics are carved in stones{{cite book|author=Jane Portal|title=Art Under Control in North Korea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zWH05CbG02kC&pg=PA93|year=2005|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=978-1-86189-236-2|page=93}} as well as the Pyongyang Arch of Triumph.{{cite book|author=Justin Corfield|title=Historical Dictionary of Pyongyang|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5zKWBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|year=2014|publisher=Anthem Press|isbn=978-1-78308-341-1|page=9}}

The song is played by the North Korean state television and Voice of Korea at the start of broadcasts each day.{{cite web|title=KCTV startup|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei-mUUy85nc|website=YouTube| date=12 April 2013 |accessdate=28 May 2017}}