In the hagiography of North Korea’s ruling family, the former male leaders occupy the place of gods, their portraits plastered in every home and statues towering over public squares.

But Kim Jong Suk, the wife of Kim Il Sung and mother of Kim Jong Il, has played a different role in this “Paektu lineage,” held up not as a semi-divine figure beyond the reach of the common people but as a role model for all North Korean women to emulate.

During her life, nobody paid much attention to this quiet woman, once a humble cook in a guerrilla camp in