DPRK President Kim Il Sung (1912-94) is said to have met thousands of foreigners, but comparatively few Americans. Those Americans include:

Affiliation at time of meeting; year(s) met; (d) = deceased

After DPRK independence in September 1948:

• Harrison Salisbury, New York Times (interview with Kim), (article), 1972 (d)
• John M. Lee, New York Times, 1972 (d)
• Selig Harrison, Washington Post (article and interview with Kim), 1972, Carnegie Endowment, 1994 (d)
• Rep. Stephen Solarz, 1980, 1991 (d)
• Ralph Clough, SAIS, 1980, 1991 (d)
• Stanley O. Roth, House Foreign Affairs Committee, 1991 [Roth accompanied Solarz to Pyongyang; as Assistant Secretary of State for EAP, Roth also met Kim Jong Il in 2000]
• Rev. Billy Graham (with Dr. Stephen Linton and other members of the Graham delegations) 1992, 1994 (for Graham’s accounts of meeting Kim, see Ch. 34 in Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham) (d)
• Former Rep. Richard Ichord, American Freedom Coalition (AFC), 1992 (d)
• Former Rep. Bob Mathias, AFC, 1992 (d)
• Amb. John Holdridge, AFC, 1992 (d)
• Amb. Douglas MacArthur II (the General’s nephew and namesake), AFC, 1992 (d)
• Max Hugel, former Deputy Director, CIA; AFC, 1992 (d)
• [The AFC delegation that met Kim in May-June 1992 included approx. 40 participants, among them former U.S. congressmen, governors and other senior officials]
• Dr. Robert Grant, AFC, 1992
• Gary Jarmin, AFC, 1992
• Dr. Thomas J. Ward, AFC, 1992
• Larry R. Moffitt, AFC, 1992
• Dr. William J. Taylor, Jr., CSIS, 1992, 1994 (d)
• Josette Sheerhan, Washington Times, 1992 (article and interview with Kim), 1994 (written interview with Kim)
• Victoria Yokota, Washington Times, 1992
• Rep. Gary Ackerman, 1993
• [Ackerman was accompanied by two congressional staffers, and State’s Kenneth Quinones (see his report)]
• Dr. C. Kenneth Quinones, State Dept., 1993
• Eason Jordan, VP, CNN International, 1994 (twice in April and June)
• Mike Chinoy, CNN, 1992, 1994 (see Ch. 11 of China Live: People Power and the Television Revolution)
• Lt. Col. James G. Zumwalt (USMC, Ret.), 1994
• Dr. Antonio Betancourt, Summit Council, 1992, 1994 (5 times total) (d)*
• Dr. William P. Selig, Summit Council, 1992 [also met Kim Jong Il]
• Dr. Mark P. Barry, Summit Council, 1994
• Former President Jimmy Carter (d) and Rosalynn Carter (d), 1994
• Richard A. Christenson, State Dept., 1994
• Nancy Konigsmark, Carter Center, 1994 (d)
• Amb. Marion Creekmore, Carter Center, 1994

The above DPRK video includes Kim meeting Rev. Billy Graham, Selig Harrison and former President Jimmy Carter. Also, the international delegation I accompanied in April 1994 is shown around the 4:30 mark; I’m in the back row, third from the left, of the group shot (just like the header photo at top on the home page).

Before DPRK independence in September 1948 (thanks to Koryo Tours for this info):

• William R. Langdon, Political Counselor to Gen. John R. Hodge, USA, in Korea (October 1946)
• Major General Albert E. Brown, USA, Chief Commissioner, American delegation to the US-USSR Joint Commission, plus members of the U.S. delegation to Pyongyang (July 1947)

*=also attended Kim Il Sung’s funeral in July 1994, and twice met Kim Jong Il in 1992, 1994

→ Does not include the names of the delegation from the U.S. National Council of Churches that met with Kim Il Sung on August 20, 1992. However, Google Gemini provides this information which appears accurate: 

In August 1992, a delegation from the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCCCUSA) traveled to both South and North Korea to discuss reunification and peace on the Korean Peninsula.
The delegation was headed by Rev. Syngman Rhee, who at the time was the president of the NCCCUSA. Notably, during this trip, the delegation met with North Korean leader Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang (specifically on August 20, 1992) before and after their time in South Korea.
While the full roster of the multi-person delegation is often only listed in specific denominational archives or full mission reports, the primary leaders and participants identified in records from that period include:

Key Delegation Members

• • • Rev. Syngman Rhee (d): President of the NCCCUSA (Delegation Leader).
    • Rev. Joan Brown Campbell (d): General Secretary of the NCCCUSA.
    • Rev. Bruce Robbins (d): Then-Associate General Secretary for the NCCCUSA’s Unit on Church World Service and Witness (and later General Secretary of the United Methodist General Commission on Christian Unity).
    • Dr. Erika Meyer: Representative involved in international affairs and peace initiatives.

Purpose and Context
The mission was part of a long-standing “ecumenical pilgrimage” aimed at fostering communication between the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) in the South and the Korean Christian Federation (KCF) in the North.
During their visit to South Korea in August 1992, the delegation met with South Korean church leaders and government officials to advocate for:

1. 1. 1. Family Reunification: Promoting the exchange of letters and visits between families separated since the Korean War.
      2. Peace Treaty: Moving from the 1953 Armistice Agreement to a permanent peace treaty.
      3. Human Rights: Supporting South Korean church activists who had been imprisoned for unauthorized visits to the North.

The visit was historically significant because it occurred during a period of shifting North-South relations and followed the 1991 “Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-Aggression, and Exchanges and Cooperation.”

→ Does not include the names of U.S. citizens who were likely part of CNN’s crews in its 1992 and 1994 visits (e.g., Mitch Farkas) in which they met Kim Il Sung, nor the name of an individual who met Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il while a Soviet diplomat. Also does not include the names of any Communist Party USA (AKFIC) members who may have met Kim (AKFIC at least got a written response to interview questions); CPUSA head Gus Hall once received a box of presents from Kim. Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver visited North Korea twice in 1969-70, but may not have met Kim himself despite his subsequent praise of the regime. For the names of several Korean-Americans who met Kim, likely among at least dozens, please confer Dr. Myers’ comments below.♦

👉🏻New biography of Kim Il Sung: Accidental Tyrant: The Life of Kim Il-sung by Fyodor Tertitskiy (published April 1, 2025 in the U.S.; I am cited in the endnotes for my article on the 1945 division of Korea):