List of leaders of North Korea
At the end of World War II, Soviet Union occupied the northern half of Korea and in 1946 established the Provisional People's Committee for North Korea chaired by Kim Il-sung. On 9 September 1948, the DPRK was proclaimed, also led by Kim Il-sung.
Purge
North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and Kim Jong-un have each periodically purged their political rivals or perceived threats, beginning in the 1950s. The most senior Kim purged those who opposed his son's succession to the supreme leadership of North Korea. Kim Il-sung's most prominent purge occurred during the "August Incident" in 1956, when the pro-Soviet and pro-Chinese Yanan factions of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) attempted to depose Kim. Most of those involved in the plot were executed while some others fled to the USSR and China. While some purges were carried out under Kim Jong-il, they were not as common as they were under his father/son. Kim Jong-un purged a number of high-ranking officials and generals installed by his father Kim Jong-il in the former's first years in power, including, most prominently, his uncle Jang Sung-taek.