Historical Figure
Kim Jong-il
1941–2011
Leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011
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Biography
Kim Jong Il was a North Korean politician and dictator who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994 until his own death in 2011. Posthumously, Kim Jong Il was declared an Eternal Leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).
Timeline
The story of Kim Jong-il, told in moments.
His father dies. Kim Jong-il assumes power but doesn't take the title of president. He leaves that to his dead father. North Korea becomes the only country with a deceased head of state. He rules as Chairman of the National Defence Commission.
Meets South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in Pyongyang. The first inter-Korean summit in 55 years. They drink, toast, and sign agreements. The South Korean president wins the Nobel Peace Prize. Nothing much changes on the ground.
North Korea detonates its first nuclear device. The yield is less than a kiloton. The test is partly a failure. He doesn't care. The regime now has a nuclear card to play. His personal wine cellar reportedly holds $800,000 worth of French Burgundy.
Dies of a heart attack on his private train near Pyongyang. The government waits two days to announce it. State television shows a weeping newsreader. He is 69. His youngest son inherits everything.
In Their Own Words (20)
Korea and Japan are geographically close countries, and they had maintained relations from olden times exchanging visits with each other. But in the past century discord and confrontation has brought the relations between the two countries to an extremely abnormal state. The abnormal relations continuing between them are, in every respect, harmful to either of them. Normalizing the relations between the two countries and developing good-neighbourly relations accords with the aspirations and interests of the peoples of the two countries, and it is an urgent demand of the times.
Remarks to Kyodo News Service before a visit from Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi (September 14, 2002), in Selected Works vol. 15, 2002
Whenever they [the Jagang people] saw my car passing by, they would run towards it cheering and shedding tears. This feeling cannot be manufactured or bought with money. It is a phenomenon that can be witnessed only in our country, where the Party and the people are united single-heartedly.
"Let us bring about about a fresh turn in economic work and the people's standard of living by following the example of Jagang Province," collected remarks during field guidance visits to Jagang (1998), in Selected Works vol. 14, 1998
Whenever such practices as failing to carry out the Party's ideas and policies unconditionally, abusing one's authority, acting bureaucratically, enjoying privileges and being corrupt are revealed among cadres, we should nip them in the bud through ideological struggle. Those who fail to remould themselves in a revolutionary way through an ideological struggle should be sent to labour-intensive fields to be trained through labour.
"Let us further consolidate the position of the socialist revolution through effective party work," speech to the Central Committee (January 1, 1994), in Selected Works vol. 13, 1994
Independence is an attribute of man, the social being; it should not be viewed as the development to perfection of a natural, biological attribute of living matter. This is, in essence, an evolutionary viewpoint. Of course, we do not deny evolutionism itself. Science has long established the fact that man is a product of ages of evolution. Man is a product of evolution, but not his independence. Independence is a social product. Independence is an attribute given to man by society, not nature; it is not a natural gift, but has been formed and developed socially and historically.
"On some questions in understanding the Juche philosophy", speech delivered to theoretical propagandists of the Party, April 2, 1974, 1974
The US imperialists … are resorting to every conceivable scheme to stifle us. They are not only bringing political pressure and military threats to bear on us but also imposing economic sanctions. This is why our Party and people have had to undergo the Arduous March and suffer hardships.
"Let us bring about about a fresh turn…"
Artifacts (15)
Bridgeport Chronicle-Union 1881-02-12 (IA cammlsmh 000230)
Unknown authorUnknown author
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