Song Hye-rim

Infobox Korean name|context=north
hangul=성혜림
hanja=成蕙琳
mr=Sŏng Hyerim
rr=Seong Hye-rim

Song Hye-rim (1937-2002) was a North Korean actress and one-time favored mistress of Kim Jong Il. She was born in present-day South Korea, in Changnyeong, South Gyeongsang.

Song entered Pyongyang Movie College in 1955, but left the following year to give birth to a daughter. She later re-enrolled and graduated, having her film debut in 1960. She became a popular actress in the 1960s, appearing in movies including "Onjŏngryŏng" (온정령) and "Baek Il-hong" (백일홍).

Song began dating Kim Jong Il in 1968, after divorcing her first husband; she is believed to have been his first mistress. In 1971, she gave birth to Kim Jong-nam, who at one time was believed to be favored to succeed Kim Jong Il. The birth of this son is said to have been kept secret from Kim Il-sung until 1975. [Lee (2005), par. 6]

Beginning in the early 1980s Song travelled to Moscow frequently for medical care. In 1996 Song was reported to have defected to the west, but intelligence officials in South Korea denied the story. She is reported to have died on May 17 2002. [Empas (n.d.)] Some reports say she died in Moscow. [Lee (2005), sect. 4 par. 1]

Many accounts of Song are drawn from the memoirs of her sister, Song Hye-rang.

Notes

References

*cite web|url=http://www.dailynk.com/korean/read.php?&num=8596|title=김정일의 동거녀 성혜림과 고영희|work=DailyNK|date=2005-07-15|accessdate=2007-05-23
*cite web|url=http://people.empas.com/people/info/su/ng/sunghyelm/|title=성혜림|work=Empas 인물검색|accessdate=2007-05-23
*cite web|url=http://nk.chosun.com/news/news.html?ACT=detail&res_id=58276&page=1|title=김정일, 외모닮은 김정운 칭찬|work=NKChosun.com "Choongang Monthly Magazine"|accessdate=2007-05-23|author=Lee, Ki-dong (이기동)|date=2005-01-26

ee also

*List of Korea-related topics
*History of North Korea
*List of Koreans

Persondata
NAME=Song Hye-rim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=성혜림, 成蕙琳
SHORT DESCRIPTION=North Korean actress, mistress of Kim Jong-il
DATE OF BIRTH=1937
PLACE OF BIRTH=Changnyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea
DATE OF DEATH=May 17 2002
PLACE OF DEATH=Moscow, Russia