North Korea
Japan tried to suppress Korean traditions and culture and ran the economy primarily for its own benefit. Korean resistance groups known as Dongnipgun (Liberation Army) operated along the Sino-Korean border, fighting guerrilla warfare against Japanese forces. Some of them took part in allied action in China and parts of South East Asia. One of the guerrilla leaders was the communist Kim Il-sung, who later became the first leader of North Korea.
Kang Pan-sok
Kang Pan-sŏk (21 April 1892 – 31 July 1932) was the mother of North Korean leader Kim Il-sung, grandmother of the late leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, and great-grandmother of the current leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un. She was a Korean independence activist and communist politician. April 21 is a day of memorial for her in North Korea, when a wreath-laying ceremony is held at Chilgol Revolutionary Site, in what was Chilgol-ri, a town once in Pyongang Province and today part of Pyongyang.