Kim Jong Il

=== Cult of personality ===
{{Main|North Korean cult of personality}}
[[File:DPRK election.jpg|thumb|A North Korean voting booth containing portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il under the national flag (below the portraits is the ballot box)]]

Kim was the focus of an elaborate [[personality cult]] inherited from his father and founder of the DPRK, Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong Il was often the centre of attention throughout ordinary life in the DPRK. On his 60th birthday (based on his official date of birth), mass celebrations occurred throughout the country on the occasion of his [[Hwangap]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1823713.stm|title=North Korea marks leader's birthday|publisher=BBC|date=16 February 2002|access-date=18 December 2007|archive-date=23 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081123095151/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1823713.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2010, the North Korean media reported that Kim's distinctive clothing had set worldwide fashion trends.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/nkorea-leader-sets-world-fashion-trend-pyongyang-claims-5533361.html|title=N.Korea leader sets world fashion trend, Pyongyang claims|work=The Independent|date=8 April 2010|access-date=14 July 2014|archive-date=13 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513063138/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/nkorea-leader-sets-world-fashion-trend-pyongyang-claims-5533361.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The prevailing point of view is that the people's adherence to Kim's cult of personality was solely out of respect for Kim Il Sung or out of fear of punishment for failure to pay homage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nautilus.org/DPRKbriefingbook/negotiating/issue.html|title="Korean Monarch Kim Jong Il: Technocrat Ruler of the Hermit Kingdom Facing the Challenge of Modernity", The Nautilus Institute|access-date=18 December 2007|last=Mansourov|first=Alexandre|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070816180527/http://nautilus.org/DPRKbriefingbook/negotiating/issue.html|archive-date=16 August 2007}}</ref> Media and government sources from outside North Korea generally support this view,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6368203.stm|title=Nuclear deal fuels Kim's celebrations|publisher=BBC|date=16 February 2007|access-date=18 December 2007|last=Scanlon|first=Charles|archive-date=16 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916084220/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6368203.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article1916374.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026142417/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article1916374.ece|archive-date=26 October 2007|title=Kim Jong Il, the tyrant with a passion for wine, women and the bomb|work=The Independent|date=21 October 2006|access-date=18 December 2007|last=Coonan|first=Clifford|url-status=dead|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2396147,00.html |title='Dear Leader' clings to power while his people pay the price |first=Richard |last=Lloyd Parry |newspaper=The Times |date=10 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061225131438/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2396147,00.html |archive-date=25 December 2006}}</ref><ref name="NZ_Herald_10405224">{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=340&ObjectID=10405224|title=North Korea's 'Dear Leader' flaunts nuclear prowess|date=10 October 2006|agency=[[Reuters]]|work=[[The New Zealand Herald]]|access-date=13 October 2011|archive-date=7 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200107165039/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Compiled by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. [https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27775.htm "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802205210/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27775.htm |date=2 August 2020 }} United States Department of State. 25 February 2004. Retrieved 18 December 2007.</ref> while North Korean government sources aver that it was genuine hero worship.<ref>{{cite web|last=LaBouyer|first=Jason|url=http://www.korea-dpr.com/lodestar0605v.pdf |title=When friends become enemies&nbsp;– Understanding left-wing hostility to the DPRK |access-date=18 December 2007 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090319072854/http://www.korea-dpr.com/lodestar0605v.pdf |archive-date=19 March 2009 |work=Lodestar|date=May–June 2005|pages=7–9|publisher=Korea-DPR.com}}</ref> The song "[[No Motherland Without You]]", sung by the [[Korean People's Army State Merited Chorus and Symphony Orchestra|KPA State Merited Choir]], was created especially for Kim in 1992 and is frequently broadcast on the radio and from loudspeakers on the streets of Pyongyang.<ref>{{cite book|author=Marshall Cavendish Corporation|title=World and Its Peoples: Eastern and Southern Asia|year=2007|page=929|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YG2AFyFppJQC&pg=PA929|isbn=978-0761476313|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|access-date=21 May 2020|archive-date=28 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528065315/https://books.google.com/books?id=YG2AFyFppJQC&pg=PA929|url-status=live}}</ref>