Hong Il-chon
Hong Il-chon (, born 1942) was the first wife of Kim Jong-il. She was the daughter of a soldier who died during the Korean War. In the early 1960s, Kim Il-sung, father of Kim Jong-il, introduced her to his son and handpicked her to marry him in 1966. Her only daughter is named Kim Hye-gyong, born in 1968, and is the first child of Kim Jong-il. They divorced in 1969.
History of the Workers' Party of Korea
In 1980, the WPK Congress elevated Kim Jong-il to senior positions and publicized his status as heir apparent. Until then, it seemed likely that Kim's successor would be either Oh Jin-wu or Prime Minister Kim Il (not related to Kim Il-sung). In fact, it seems that Kim Il-sung had always planned that his son would succeed him, and had been advancing him within the Army (the real source of power in the DPRK) since 1974. Kim Il was removed from office in 1976 and died in 1984, and Oh remained loyal to the Kim family. Well before Kim Il-sung's death in 1994, Kim Jong-il had become the day-to-day ruler of the country, and had promoted his own followers to key positions in the Army. Kim Jong-il's accession was followed by a round of purges in the WPK, in which some of his father's old followers were removed from office.