Kim Jong-suk was born December 24, 1917 to Kim Chun San and Oh Ssi, who were poor farmers in Osan-dong, Hoeryong County, in the North Hamgyong Province of Japanese-occupied Korea. In 1922 her family abandoned Korea to live in China. Kim Jong-suk joined the Young Communist League of Korea, led by Kim Il-sung, on July 10, 1932.

Later, on April 25, 1936, she was assigned to the KPRA main unit directly under the command of Kim Il-sung. Kim Jong-suk was formally admitted into the Communist Party on January 25, 1937. Kim Jong-suk gave birth to Kim Jong-il on February 16, 1941 in the Soviet village of Vyatskoye, near Khabarovsk.

On September 22, 1949, Kim Jong-suk died at the age of 31 while giving birth to a stillborn baby girl. Known in North Korea as 'The Heroine of the Anti-Japanese Revolution', the North Korean government conferred the title of Hero of the DPRK on her on September 21, 1972