Biography
Ko was born in Ikuno, Osaka, Japan to parents of Korean descent. It seems that her father Ko Gyon-tek worked in Osaka in a sewing factory run by Japan's ministry of war. At the age of 8, her family moved to North Korea in May 1961. In the early 1970s, she began to work as a dancer for the Mansudae Art Troupe in Pyongyang.
In 1981 Ko gave birth to son Kim Jong-chul, her first child with Kim Jong-il. It was Kim's third child, after son Kim Jong-nam (b. 1971 to Song Hye-rim), and daughter Kim Sul-song (b. 1974 to Kim Young-sook). Kim Jong-il's second child with Ko, present North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un, followed between one to three years later after Jong-chul. Their third child, Kim Yo-jong, a daughter, was believed to be about 23 in 2012.
On 27 August 2004, various sources reported that she had died in Paris, probably of breast cancer.
Read more about this topic: Ko Young-hee
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