Kim Jong Il

=== Human rights record ===
{{see also|Human rights in North Korea}}
According to a 2004 [[Human Rights Watch]] report, the North Korean government under Kim was "among the world's most repressive governments", having up to 200,000 political prisoners according to U.S. and South Korean officials, with no freedom of the press or religion, political opposition or equal education: "Virtually every aspect of political, social, and economic life is controlled by the government."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/07/08/nkorea9040.htm|title=Human Rights in North Korea|access-date=2 August 2007|date=July 2004|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|archive-date=1 December 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061201160439/http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/07/08/nkorea9040.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Kim's government was accused of "[[crimes against humanity]]" for its alleged culpability in creating and prolonging the [[North Korean famine|1990s famine]].{{sfn|Noland|2004}}<ref name="haggard209"/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/node/147613|access-date=24 September 2011|title=North Korea: A terrible truth|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|date=17 April 1997|archive-date=11 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011191429/http://www.economist.com/node/147613|url-status=live}}</ref> Human Rights Watch characterized him as a [[dictator]] and accused him of [[human rights violations]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/02/13/north-korea-nothing-celebrate-about-kim-jong-il|title=North Korea: Nothing to Celebrate About Kim Jong-Il|date=13 February 2015|work=Human Rights Watch|access-date=25 January 2019|archive-date=4 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004084950/https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/02/13/north-korea-nothing-celebrate-about-kim-jong-il|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Amnesty International]] condemned him for leaving 'millions of North Koreans mired in poverty' and detaining hundreds of thousands of people in prison camps.<ref>{{cite web |title=North Korea: Kim Jong-il's death could be opportunity for human rights |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2011/12/north-korea-kim-jong-il-s-death-opportunity-improving-human-rights/ |website=www.amnesty.org |publisher=[[Amnesty International]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313203102/https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2011/12/north-korea-kim-jong-il-s-death-opportunity-improving-human-rights/ |archive-date=13 March 2016 |language=en |date=19 December 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Kim Jong Il claimed that the barometer for distinguishing whether a person can be deemed a member of North Korean society and hence entitled to rights 'lies not on the grounds of his social class but on the grounds of his ideology'.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Weatherley |first1=Robert |last2=Jiyoung |first2=Song |title=The Evolution of Human Rights Thinking in North Korea |journal=Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics |date=June 2008 |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=272–296 |doi=10.1080/13523270802003111|s2cid=143231124 |doi-access=free }}</ref>