Born in
Ikuno Korea Town of
Osaka, Japan, Ko's birth date and Japanese name in Japanese official records are 26 June 1952 and Takada Hime (高田姫), respectively. Her father, Ko Gyon-tek, worked in an Osaka sewing factory run by Japan's ministry of war, a 16th-generation descendant of the
Joseon scholar official,
Ko Tŭkchong. Her mother is also Korean. She, along with her family, moved to North Korea in May 1961 or 1962 as part of a repatriation program. In the early 1970s, she began working as a dancer for the
Mansudae Art Troupe in
Pyongyang. It is thought that Ko and Kim Jong Il first met in 1972. In 1981, Ko had a son named
Kim Jong-chul, her first child with Kim. It was Kim's fourth child, after daughter Kim Hye-gyong (born 1968 to
Hong Il-chon), son
Kim Jong-nam (born 1971 to
Song Hye-rim), and daughter
Kim Sol-song (born 1974 to
Kim Young-sook). Kim Jong Il's second child with Ko, the present North Korean supreme leader
Kim Jong Un, followed one to three years after Jong-chul. Their third child,
Kim Yo Jong, a daughter, was believed to be about 23 in 2012; however, the birth year of Kim Yo Jong is also given as 1987. ==Cult of personality==