Her family and she fled Korea to Yanji, Jilin (Kirin) Province around 1922.[25] In October 1947, Kim Jong-suk presided over the establishment of a school for war orphans in South P’yo’ngan Province, which became the Mangyo’ngdae Revolutionary School. When the school opened in west Pyongyang one year after its foundation, Kim Jong Suk also unveiled the country's first statue to Kim Il-sung. In 1949, Kim Jong-suk was once again pregnant.