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Kim Jong-il (also written as Kim Jong Il *) (Korean: 김정일) (born February 16, 1941) is the leader of Democratic People's Republic of Korea, a position he has held since 1994. Officially he is the Chairman of the National Defense Commission of North Korea, Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, and General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (the ruling party since 1948). He succeeded his father Kim Il-sung, the founder of the Democratic People's Republic, who died in 1994.
Birth and education Due to the secretive nature of the North Korean government, many official claims about Kim's life and activities are inconsistent with outside sources. Kim Jong-il's official biography states that he was born at Mount Paektu in northern Korea on February 16, 1942. Soviet records show he was born in the Siberian village of Vyatskoye, near Khabarovsk, on February 16, 1941, where his father, Kim Il-sung, was a captain and battalion commander in the Soviet 88th Special Rifle Brigade, which was made up of Chinese and Korean exiles. It is believed that his official birth year was adjusted so he would appear to have been born when his father was 30, an auspicious age. Kim Jong-il's official biography also holds that his birth at Mount Paektu was foretold by a swallow, and that his birth was heralded by the appearance of a double rainbow over the mountain and a new star in the heavens. Kim Jong-il's mother was Kim Il-sung's first wife, Kim Jong-suk. During his youth in the Soviet Union, Kim Jong-il was known as Yuri Irsenovich Kim (), taking his patronymic from his father's Russified name, Ir-sen. Kim was a young child when World War II ended in 1945. His father returned to Pyongyang in September 1945, and in late November the younger Kim returned to Korea via a Soviet ship that landed at Sonbong (Unggi). The family moved into a former Japanese officer's mansion in Pyongyang, with a garden and pool. Kim Jong-il's brother Shura Kim (also known as the first Kim Pyong-il) drowned there in 1948. In 1948, Kim Jong-il began primary school. In 1949, his mother died in pregnancy. Kim probably received most of his education in the People's Republic of China, where he was sent away from his father for safety during the Korean War. According to the official biography, he graduated from Namsan School in Pyongyang, a special school for the children of Worker's Party officials. He is later said to have attended Kim Il-sung University and to have majored in Political Economy, graduating in 1964. His graduating class won the highest academic honor, Double Chollima. By the time of his graduation, his father, revered in the government's official pronouncements as "the Great Leader" (위대한 수령, widaehan suryŏng), had firmly consolidated control over the government. He is also said to have received English language education at the University of Malta in the early 1970s, on his infrequent holidays in Malta as guest of Prime Minister Dom Mintoff. The elder Kim had meanwhile remarried and had another son, Kim Pyong-il. It is unclear if Jong-il was chosen over Pyong-il, or whether Pyong-il was ever seriously considered as successor by his father. Since 1988, Kim Pyong-il has served in a series of North Korean embassies in Europe and is currently the North Korean ambassador to Poland. It is suspected that Kim Pyong-il was exiled to these distant posts by Kim Il-sung in order to avoid a power struggle between his two sons. Early political career
"Highest post of the state" Kim Il-sung died Jul 8, 1994, at age 82. He was not replaced as President, and in fact remains the President resting in the memorial mausoleum in central Pyongyang. The active position has been abolished in deference to the memory of Kim Il-sung. Kim Jong-il officially took the titles of General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the National Defense Commission, the real centre of power in North Korea, on October 8, 1997. In 1998, this position was declared to be "the highest post of the state", so Kim may be regarded as North Korea's head of state from that date. This is the first, and so far only, time a communist country's leadership has progressed in a dynastic succession. Since Kim is not the president, he is not constitutionally required to hold elections to confirm his legitimacy and has not done so. The "royal" succession and the misreading of sans-serif text has lead to some to misinterpret his name as Kim Jong II*. The state-controlled economy continued to struggle throughout the 1990s as a result of poor industrial and agricultural productivity, the loss of guaranteed markets following the fall of the Soviet Union and the introduction of a market economy in China, and the state's continued large expenditures on armaments. As one analysis notes, "large-scale military spending eats up resources needed for investment and civilian consumption." It is unclear whether the possible curtailing of Kim's personality cult indicated a struggle within the North Korean leadership or whether it was a deliberate attempt by Kim to moderate his image in the outside world. Current KCTV news broadcasts make frequent use of honorifics such as "Great Leader," "Dear General," and "Dear Father," and occasionally "The Sun of the 21st Century." International affairs Kim Jong-il's government has made some modest efforts to improve relations with South Korea, and the election of Kim Dae-jung as South Korean president in 1997 created an opportunity for negotiations. In June 2000 the two leaders held a summit meeting, the first such meeting. But the two sides were subsequently unable to agree on any substantial (as opposed to symbolic) improvement in their relations. (For additional details on the June 2000 summit between the leaders of the two Koreas, see Sunshine Policy.) Kim's relationship with the United States has been more difficult. During the Clinton administration, the U.S. and North Korea signed the Agreed Framework following a U.S. military buildup near the country, with the U.S. considering bombing the active Yongbyon nuclear reactor . Under this agreement, North Korea would shut down its graphite-moderated nuclear reactors and plutonium processing program in exchange for two light water reactors paid for mostly by South Korea, together with interim fuel oil shipments by the U.S. In part because of U.S. Congressional opposition, construction of the light-water reactors fell behind schedule and delivery of the fuel oil was often late. North Korea was supposed to use these for energy only but was accused by the U.S. of pursuing nuclear weapons. With the election of George W. Bush in 2000, the U.S. adopted a tougher, more aggressive stance toward the Democratic People's Republic. The Bush administration cut off one-on-one diplomatic relations initiated by the Clinton administration and accused North Korea of violating the spirit of the Agreed Framework by developing a secret uranium program that the U.S. believed would circumvent the agreement. The U.S. reported that North Korea confirmed the allegation, though officials from the Democratic People's Republic denied this. North Korea stated it had a right to build nuclear weapons for defense unless the U.S. agreed to a non-aggression treaty. Bush later declared North Korea to be part of the "Axis of Evil" along with Iran and Iraq. In December 2002, the U.S. stopped shipment of fuel oil it was providing under the Agreed Framework. On January 10 2003, North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. On July 4 2006, North Korea tested four or five short range missiles, which landed in the Sea of Japan. The sixth missile, the Taepodong 2, was a long range missile but either failed or was aborted 40 seconds after launch. The seventh missile was launched the following day at 8:22 UTC. Media reports out of South Korea indicate that North Korea has three to four more missiles on launch pads and ready for firing. These missiles are believed to be of short to medium range. Many in the international community are now calling for more aggressive talks to have North Korea give up its nuclear weapons. On October 9 2006, North Korea claimed that it had tested its first nuclear weapon at an undisclosed, underground test site. Within days, both the United States and China reported collecting air samples from the region that contained small amounts of radioactive material as well as seismic data showing a possible subterranean explosion, consistent with North Korea's claim that it had conducted a nuclear test. It is widely believed that this was a smaller sized test <1 kiloton nuclear yield. See also: North Korea and weapons of mass destruction Personal life Kim Jong-il is a reclusive Stalinist leader who is known for his "cruelty and unpredictability".• Kim was also married to Kim Young-suk, although they have been estranged for some years. He has a daughter, Kim Sul-song (born 1974), from this marriage. His eldest son, Kim Jong-nam, was born to Song Hye-rim in 1971. With Ko Yong-Hi, he had another son, Kim Jong-chul, in 1981, and there is reported to be a second son, Kim Jong-un (name also spelled "Jong Woon" or "Jong Woong"). His second favorite mistress, Kyung-hwa Chang-ok had three children by him before she defected to South Korea in 2002. As of 2005, Kim Jong-chul was said to be his heir apparent. Kim is reported to have fathered thirteen children outside of marriage. Kim's niece Chang Geum-song committed suicide in 2006 at the age of 29 while studying abroad in Paris. Before 1995, Kim was frequently accused of dishonesty, drunkenness, sexual excess of various kinds and even insanity, particularly in the South Korean press. The BBC reported that Konstantin Pulikovsky, a Russian emissary who traveled with Kim Jong-il across Russia by train, told reporters that Kim had live lobsters air-lifted to the train every day which he ate with silver chopsticks. (It is believed that silver chopsticks were used in the Chinese imperial palace to detect poison.) Kim's reputation for personal extravagance is a focus of international attention on both the man and his country. In the context of United Nations sanctions restricting the trade in luxury items to North Korea following the country's October 2006 nuclear test, Reuters coverage noted that "No one enjoys luxury goods more than paramount leader Kim Jong-il, who boasts the country's finest wine cellar with space for 10,000 bottles. Kim has a penchant for fine food such as lobster, caviar and the most expensive cuts of sushi that he has flown in to him from Japan." His annual purchases of Hennessey's cognac reportedly total to $700,000, while the average North Korean earns the equivalent of $900 per year. Kim is said to be a film fan, owning a collection of some 20,000 video tapes.. It has been reported that Kim is a fan of ''Friday The 13th'', Rambo, and James Bond films, among others. In 1978, on the orders of Kim, South Korean film director Shin Sang-ok and his actress wife Choe Eun-hui were kidnapped in order to build a North Korean film industry. In 2006 he was involved in the production of the Juche based movie Diary of a Girl Student – depicting the life of a girl whose parents are scientists – with a KCNA news report stating that Kim "improved its script and guided its production". He reportedly enjoys following National Basketball Association games. Madeleine Albright ended her summit with Kim by presenting him with a basketball signed by Michael Jordan. Like his father, he has a profound fear of flying, and has always traveled by private armoured train for state visits to Russia and China. He also sometimes wears lifts and platform shoes (he is 160 cm, or 5 feet, 3 inches tall) .* North Korean state media have claimed that Kim "enjoys golf, having shot multiple holes-in-one during his first try at the game. He reportedly aced five holes and finished 38 under par on the golf course."* They also claimed that Kim has composed six operas *. See also Further reading Video | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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