 On September 9, 1948, Kim Il-sung declared the Democratic People's Republic of Korea; he promptly received diplomatic recognition from the Soviet Union, but not the United States.The U.S. did not extend, and has never extended, diplomatic recognition to the DPRK.Kim Il-Sung's anti-American rhetoric often asserted that the U.S. was a capitalist and imperialist successor to Japan, a view the country still holds today.