Kim Jong Il

Eternal General Secretary
Kim Jong Il
Eternal General Secretary Kim Jong Il
김정일
	Kim in August 2011
2nd Supreme Leader of North Korea
	In office; 8 July 1994 – 17 December 2011
Premier	Kang Song-san; Hong Song-nam; Pak Pong-ju; Kim Yong-il; Choe Yong-rim;
Preceded by	Kim Il Sung
Succeeded by	Kim Jong Un
General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea
	In office; 8 October 1997 – 17 December 2011
Preceded by	Kim Il Sung
Succeeded by	Kim Jong Un (as First Secretary)
Chairman of the National Defence Commission
	In office; 9 April 1993 – 17 December 2011
First Vice Chairman	O Jin-u; Jo Myong-rok
Vice Chairman	Choe Kwang; Kim Il-chol; Ri Yong-mu; Yon Hyong-muk; Kim Yong-chun; O Kuk-ryol; Jang Song-thaek;
Preceded by	Kim Il Sung
Succeeded by	Kim Jong Un (as First Chairman)
Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army
	In office; 24 December 1991 – 17 December 2011
Preceded by	Kim Il Sung
Succeeded by	Kim Jong Un
Personal details
Born	Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941; Primorsky Krai, Soviet Union
Died	17 December 2011 (aged 70); Pyongyang, North Korea
Resting place	Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, Pyongyang, North Korea
Nationality	North Korean; Soviet;
Political party	Workers' Party of Korea
Spouses	Hong Il-chon (m. 1966; div. 1969); Kim Young-sook (m. 1974);
Domestic partners	Song Hye-rim (1968–2002); Ko Yong Hui (1977–2004); Kim Ok (2004–2011);
Children	Kim Hye-kyung; Kim Jong-nam; Kim Sol-song; Kim Jong-chul; Kim Jong Un; Kim Yo Jong;
Parents	Kim Il Sung (father); Kim Jong Suk (mother);
Relatives	Kim family
Education	Mangyongdae Revolutionary School
Alma mater	Kim Il Sung University
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	North Korea
Branch/service	Korean People's Army
Years of service	1991–2011
Rank	Taewonsu (posthumously)
Commands	Supreme Commander
Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl	김정일
Hancha	金正日
Revised Romanization	Gim Jeongil
McCune–Reischauer	Kim Chŏngil
	Central institution membership 1980–2011: Member, Presidium of the Political Bureau of the 6th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea ; 1974–2011: Member, Political Bureau of the 5th, 6th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea ; 1972–1997: Secretariat of the Workers' Party of Korea ; 1972–2011: Member, 5th, 6th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea ; 1982–2011: Deputy, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th Supreme People's Assembly ; Other offices held 1997–2011: Chairman, Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea ; 1980–1997: Member, Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea ; 1990–1993: First Vice Chairman, National Defense Commission ; Leader of the Democratic People's ; Republic of Korea; ← Kim Il Sung; Kim Jong Un →;

Kim Jong Il^[a] (/ˌkɪm dʒɒŋˈɪl/;^[3] Korean: 김정일; Korean pronunciation: [kim.dzɔŋ.il];^[b] born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;^[c] 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea. He led North Korea from the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994 until his death in 2011, when he was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Un. Afterwards, Kim Jong Il was declared Eternal General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).

In the early 1980s, Kim had become the heir apparent for the leadership of North Korea, thus being established the Kim dynasty, and he assumed important posts in party and army organs. Kim succeeded his father and founder of North Korea, Kim Il Sung, following his death in 1994. Kim was the General Secretary of the WPK, WPK Presidium, Chairman of the National Defence Commission (NDC) of North Korea and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army (KPA), the fourth-largest standing army in the world.

Kim ruled North Korea as a repressive and totalitarian dictatorship.^[d] Kim assumed leadership during a period of catastrophic economic crisis amidst the dissolution of the Soviet Union, on which it was heavily dependent for trade in food and other supplies, which brought a famine. While the famine had ended by the late 1990s, food scarcity continued to be a problem throughout his tenure. Kim strengthened the role of the military by his Songun ("military-first") policies, making the army the central organizer of civil society. Kim's rule also saw tentative economic reforms, including the opening of the Kaesong Industrial Park in 2003. In April 2009, North Korea's constitution was amended to refer to him and his successors as the "supreme leader of the DPRK".

The most common colloquial title given to Kim during his lifetime was "Dear Leader" to distinguish him from his father Kim Il Sung, the "Great Leader". Following Kim's failure to appear at important public events in 2008, foreign observers assumed that Kim had either fallen seriously ill or died. On 19 December 2011, the North Korean government announced that he had died two days earlier, whereupon his third son, Kim Jong Un, was promoted to a senior position in the ruling WPK and succeeded him. After his death, alongside "Eternal General Secretary" of the WPK, Kim Jong Il was declared "Eternal Chairman" of the now defunct National Defence Commission, in keeping with the tradition of establishing eternal posts for the dead members of the Kim dynasty. North Korean media also began referring to Kim as "the General" (Changun), similar to his father's posthumous designation as "the [eternal] President".^[7]

^ Cite error: The named reference KJD8812 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ 김정일(남성). 북한정보포털 (in Korean). Ministry of Unification. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
^ "Kim Jong-il". Collins English Dictionary: Complete and Unabridged (12th ed.). HarperCollins Publishers. 2014. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2021 – via The Free Dictionary.
^ Scobell, Andrew. (2006). Kim Jong Il and North Korea: the leader and the system. Strategic Studies Institute. OCLC 66049956. Archived from the original on 4 October 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
^ McEachern, Patrick (2010). Inside the red box : North Korea's post-totalitarian politics. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0231153225. OCLC 747083533. Archived from the original on 4 October 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
^ Im, Chae-ch'on (2011). Kim Jong Il's leadership of North Korea. Routledge. ISBN 978-1134017119. OCLC 1100459946. Archived from the original on 4 October 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
^ Kim, Jong Un (6 April 2012). Let Us Brilliantly Accomplish the Revolutionary Cause of Juche, Holding Kim Jong Il in High Esteem as the Eternal General Secretary of Our Party: Talk to Senior Officials of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (PDF). Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. p. 1. OCLC 988748608. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018. ... an epoch-making event that establishes an important milestone in holding up General Kim Jong Il, together with President Kim Il Sung, as the eternal leader of our Party, and in carrying out the ideology and cause of the President and the General with credit.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

[KJD8812-1] Cite error: The named reference KJD8812 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[2] 김정일(남성). 북한정보포털 (in Korean). Ministry of Unification. Retrieved 7 November 2022.

[4] "Kim Jong-il". Collins English Dictionary: Complete and Unabridged (12th ed.). HarperCollins Publishers. 2014. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2021 – via The Free Dictionary.

[7] Scobell, Andrew. (2006). Kim Jong Il and North Korea: the leader and the system. Strategic Studies Institute. OCLC 66049956. Archived from the original on 4 October 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.

[8] McEachern, Patrick (2010). Inside the red box : North Korea's post-totalitarian politics. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0231153225. OCLC 747083533. Archived from the original on 4 October 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.

[9] Im, Chae-ch'on (2011). Kim Jong Il's leadership of North Korea. Routledge. ISBN 978-1134017119. OCLC 1100459946. Archived from the original on 4 October 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.

[11] Kim, Jong Un (6 April 2012). Let Us Brilliantly Accomplish the Revolutionary Cause of Juche, Holding Kim Jong Il in High Esteem as the Eternal General Secretary of Our Party: Talk to Senior Officials of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (PDF). Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. p. 1. OCLC 988748608. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018. ... an epoch-making event that establishes an important milestone in holding up General Kim Jong Il, together with President Kim Il Sung, as the eternal leader of our Party, and in carrying out the ideology and cause of the President and the General with credit.

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