Kim Jong Il

== Personal life ==

=== Family ===
{{Further|Kim family (North Korea)}}
[[File:Kimilsungia and Kimjongilia.JPG|thumb|Kim Jong Il and his father Kim Il Sung]]
There is no official information available about Kim Jong Il's marital history, but he is believed to have been officially married twice and to have had three [[mistress (lover)|mistresses]].<ref name="The Women in Kim's Life">{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501030630/kim_women.html |title=The Women in Kim's Life |access-date=10 July 2010|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100710141001/http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501030630/kim_women.html |archive-date=10 July 2010 |publisher= Time}}</ref> He had three known sons: [[Kim Jong-nam|Kim Jong Nam]], [[Kim Jong-chul|Kim Jong Chul]] and [[Kim Jong Un]]. His two known daughters are [[Kim Sol-song|Kim Sol Song]] and [[Kim Yo Jong]].<ref name=KJD8812>{{cite news|title=Kim Jong-un's sister is having a ball|url=http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2957573|access-date=8 August 2012|newspaper=[[Korea JoongAng Daily]]|date=8 August 2012|author=Lee Young-jong|author2=Kim Hee-jin|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120811005825/http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2957573|archive-date=11 August 2012}}</ref><ref name="theseoultimes.com">{{cite web |url=http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=%2FST%2Fdb%2Fread.php%3Fidx%3D3052|title=Kim Jong-Il's Daughter Serves as His Secretary|publisher=Theseoultimes.com|access-date=28 December 2011|archive-date=2 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602112500/http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=%2FST%2Fdb%2Fread.php%3Fidx%3D3052|url-status=live}}</ref>

Kim's first wife, [[Hong Il-chon|Hong Il Chon]], was the daughter of a [[martyr]] who died during the [[Korean War]]. She was handpicked by his father and married to him in 1966. They had a daughter called [[Kim Hye-kyung|Kim Hye Kyung]],{{sfn|Breen|2012|p=64}} who was born in 1968. Soon afterwards, they divorced in 1969.

Kim's first mistress, [[Song Hye-rim|Song Hye Rim]], was a star of North Korean films. She was already married to another man and with a child when they met.<ref name="NK defector">{{Cite web |first=John M. |last=Glionna |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/world-now/story/2011-12-22/north-korean-defector-says-kim-jong-il-stole-her-life |title=North Korean defector says Kim Jong Il stole her life |date=22 December 2011 |access-date=5 June 2023 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615190642/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2011/12/kim-jong-ils-death-north-korean-defectors-yodeok-prison.html |archive-date=15 June 2018}}</ref> Kim is reported to have forced her husband to divorce her. This relationship, which started in 1970, was not officially recognized. They had one son, Kim Jong Nam (1971–2017), who was Kim Jong Il's eldest son. Kim kept both the relationship and the child a secret (even from his father) until he ascended to power in 1994.<ref name="NK defector"/><ref name="Kim's Secret Family">{{cite web |title=Kim's Secret Family |url=http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501030630/story.html |access-date=26 June 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030626013857/http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501030630/story.html |archive-date=26 June 2003 |url-status=dead |work=Time Asia |date=23 June 2003}}</ref> However, after years of estrangement, Song is believed to have died in Moscow in the [[Central Clinical Hospital]] in 2002.<ref name="Martin">{{cite book|last=Martin|first=Bradley K.|title=Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty|publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|year=2004|location=New York|pages=693–694 |quote=Although a flurry of press dispatches at the time her sister defected claimed that Hye-rim had gone with Hye-rang, in fact, [Hye-rim] continued to live in Moscow until she died in May 2002.|isbn=978-0312323226}}</ref>

Kim's official wife, [[Kim Young-sook|Kim Young Sook]], was the daughter of a high-ranking military official. His father Kim Il Sung handpicked her to marry his son.<ref name="The Women in Kim's Life"/> The two were estranged for some years before Kim's death. Kim had a daughter from this marriage, Kim Sol Song (born 1974).<ref name="theseoultimes.com"/>

His second mistress, [[Ko Yong-hui|Ko Yong Hui]], was a Japanese-born ethnic Korean and a dancer. She had taken over the role of [[First Lady]] until her death{{spnd}}reportedly of cancer{{spnd}}in 2004. They had two sons, Kim Jong Chul (in 1981) and Kim Jong Un, also "Jong Woon" or "Jong Woong" (in 1983).<ref name="Kim's Secret Family"/><ref name="Kim Jong-un's Birthday">{{Cite web|title=N.Korea Heir Apparent 'Given More Auspicious Birthday'|url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/12/11/2009121100429.html |date=11 December 2009|access-date=5 June 2023 |website=[[The Chosun Ilbo]] |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110821040624/http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/12/11/2009121100429.html |archive-date=21 August 2011}}</ref> They also had a daughter, Kim Yo Jong, who was about 23 years old in 2012.<ref name=KJD8812/><ref name="Kim Yo Jong">{{cite web|title=Kim Yo Jong|url=https://nkleadershipwatch.wordpress.com/kji-2/kim-yo-jong/|publisher=nkleadershipwatch.wordpress.com|access-date=8 August 2012|date=11 July 2012|archive-date=2 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120802040736/http://nkleadershipwatch.wordpress.com/kji-2/kim-yo-jong/|url-status=live}}</ref>

After Ko's death, Kim lived with [[Kim Ok]], his third mistress, who had served as his personal secretary since the 1980s. She "virtually act[ed] as North Korea's first lady" and frequently accompanied Kim on his visits to military bases and in meetings with visiting foreign dignitaries. She traveled with Kim on a secretive trip to China in January 2006, where she was received by Chinese officials as Kim's wife.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,205287,00.html |title=Report: Kim Jong Il Living With Former Secretary |publisher=Fox News Channel |date=24 July 2006 |access-date=28 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025182925/http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/07/24/report-kim-jong-il-living-with-former-secretary/ |archive-date= 25 October 2014}}</ref>

According to Michael Breen, author of the book ''Kim Jong Il: North Korea's Dear Leader'', the women intimately linked to Kim never acquired any power or influence of consequence. As he explains, their roles were limited to that of romance and domesticity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/24/world/la-fg-north-korea-women-20111225|title=Many women were linked to Kim Jong Il, but few had any influence|first=John M.|last=Glionna|date=24 December 2011|via=LA Times|access-date=28 May 2015|archive-date=1 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130401034440/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/24/world/la-fg-north-korea-women-20111225|url-status=live}}</ref>

He had a younger sister, [[Kim Kyong-hui|Kim Kyong Hui]]. She was married to [[Jang Sung-taek|Jang Sung Taek]], who was executed in December 2013 in [[Pyongyang]], after being charged with treason and corruption.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25359939|title=North Korean leader's uncle 'executed over corruption'|date=12 December 2013|access-date=12 December 2013|publisher=BBC|archive-date=1 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101203443/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25359939|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Personality ===
[[File:Kim Jong-Il.jpg|thumb|left|Kim in 2000]]
Like his father, Kim had a [[fear of flying]]<ref name="fp_phobia">{{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/05/04/profiles_in_phobia|title=Profiles in Phobia|last=Swift|first=Andrew|date=4 May 2010|work=[[Foreign Policy]]|access-date=6 May 2010|archive-date=8 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100508114145/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/05/04/profiles_in_phobia|url-status=live}}</ref> and always travelled by [[North Korean leaders' trains|private armored train]] for state visits to Russia and China.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0506/Secret-China-visit-All-aboard-Kim-Jong-il-s-luxury-train|title=Secret China visit: All aboard Kim Jong-il's luxury train|author=Stephen Kurczy|work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]]|date=6 May 2010|access-date=5 April 2013|archive-date=2 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130402210927/http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0506/Secret-China-visit-All-aboard-Kim-Jong-il-s-luxury-train|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[BBC]] reported that [[Konstantin Pulikovsky]], a Russian emissary who travelled with Kim across Russia by train, told reporters that Kim had live [[lobster]]s air-lifted to the train every day and ate them with silver chopsticks.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1907197.stm|title=Profile: Kim Jong-il|work=[[BBC News]]|date=16 January 2009|access-date=28 December 2011|archive-date=27 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227161515/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1907197.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Kim was said to be a huge film fan, owning a collection of more than 20,000 [[video tape]]s and [[DVD]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=North Korean leader loves Hennessey, Bond movies |first=Wolf |last=Blitzer |date=8 January 2003 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/01/08/wbr.kim.jong.il/ |access-date=5 June 2023 |website=CNN |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412165923/http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/01/08/wbr.kim.jong.il/ |archive-date=12 April 2019}}</ref><ref name="BBC News 19 December 2011">{{cite news|last=Savage|first=Mark|title=Kim Jong-il: The cinephile despot|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16245174|date=19 December 2011|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=19 December 2014|archive-date=19 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219060447/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16245174|url-status=live}}</ref> His reported favourite movie franchises included ''[[James Bond]]'', ''[[Friday the 13th (franchise)|Friday the 13th]]'', ''[[Rambo (film series)|Rambo]]'', ''[[Godzilla (series)|Godzilla]]'', ''[[Otoko wa Tsurai yo]]'' and [[Hong Kong action cinema]],<ref name="cinephile">{{cite news|last=Savage|first=Mark|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16245174|title=Kim Jong-il: The cinephile despot|work=[[BBC News]]|date=19 December 2011|access-date=30 November 2014|archive-date=19 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219060447/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16245174|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The madness of Kim Jong Il|first=Philip|last=Gourevitch|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2003/nov/02/features.magazine37|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=2 November 2003|access-date=19 December 2011|location=London}}</ref> with [[Sean Connery]] and [[Elizabeth Taylor]] his favourite male and female actors.<ref name="cinephile"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/05/front2453662.077777778.html|title=Movie-buff Kim Jong-Il seeks joint foreign film ventures|publisher=Worldtribune.com|access-date=28 December 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105231131/http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/05/front2453662.077777778.html|archive-date=5 January 2012}}</ref> Kim was also said to have been a fan of [[Ealing comedies]], inspired by their emphasis on team spirit and a mobilised proletariat.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-16245174|title=Kim Jong-il: The cinephile despot|work=[[BBC News]]|date=19 December 2011|access-date=20 September 2020|archive-date=19 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119134647/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-16245174|url-status=live}}</ref> Kim oversaw the production of ''[[The Flower Girl]]'', a film which also became immensely popular in China.<ref name=":122">{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Jie |title=Cinematic Guerillas: Propaganda, Projectionists, and Audiences in Socialist China |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |year=2023 |isbn=9780231206273 |pages=200–201}}</ref> He authored ''[[On the Art of the Cinema]]''. In 1978, on Kim's orders South Korean film director [[Shin Sang-ok]] and his actress wife [[Choi Eun-hee]] [[Abduction of Shin Sang-ok and Choi Eun-hee|were kidnapped]] in order to build a North Korean film industry.<ref>{{cite news|last=Thomson|first=Mike|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2821221.stm|title=Kidnapped by North Korea|work=[[BBC News]]|date=5 March 2003|access-date=28 December 2011|archive-date=27 May 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060527172526/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2821221.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2006, he was involved in the production of the [[Juche]]-based movie ''[[The Schoolgirl's Diary]]'', which depicted the life of a young girl whose parents are scientists, with a [[Korean Central News Agency|KCNA]] news report stating that Kim "improved its script and guided its production".<ref>[http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2006/200608/news08/11.htm#5 "Film 'Diary of a Girl Student', Close Companion of Life"]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901094022/http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2006/200608/news08/11.htm |date= 1 September 2006 }}, Korea News Service, 10 August 2006.</ref>

Although Kim enjoyed many foreign forms of entertainment, according to former [[Supreme Guard Command|bodyguard]] [[Yodok concentration camp#Prisoners (witnesses)|Lee Young Kuk]], he refused to consume any food or drink not produced in North Korea, with the exception of wine from France.<ref name="supremo">{{cite news|last=Macintyre|first=Donald|title=The Supremo in His Labyrinth|magazine=Time|date=18 February 2002|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,201976-1,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613215447/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,201976-1,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 June 2010|access-date=9 June 2010}}</ref> His former chef [[Kenji Fujimoto]], however, has stated that Kim sometimes sent him around the world to purchase a variety of foreign [[delicacy|delicacies]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200406/200406270015.html |title=Kim Jong-il Satisfies his Gourmet Appetite while his People Starve |access-date=30 August 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050311193942/http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200406/200406270015.html |archive-date=11 March 2005 }}. ''[[The Chosun Ilbo]]''. 27 June 2004.</ref>

Kim reportedly enjoyed basketball. Former [[United States Secretary of State]] [[Madeleine Albright]] ended her summit with Kim by presenting him with a basketball signed by [[National Basketball Association|NBA]] legend [[Michael Jordan]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The oddest fan |first=Mark |last=Zeigler |date=29 October 2006 |url=http://legacy.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/world/20061029-9999-1n29kim.html |website=San Diego Union-Tribune |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322073642/http://legacy.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/world/20061029-9999-1n29kim.html |archive-date=22 March 2016}}</ref> His official biography also claims that Kim composed six operas and enjoyed staging elaborate [[musical theater|musicals]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/783967.stm|title=Asia–Pacific &#124; Profile: Kim Jong-il|work=[[BBC News]]|date=9 June 2000|access-date=28 December 2011|archive-date=23 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090523224903/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/783967.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Laika ac Samijyon (6900265643).jpg|thumb|Kim Jong Il and his father Kim Il Sung]]
United States Special Envoy for the Korean Peace Talks, Charles Kartman, who was involved in the 2000 Madeleine Albright summit with Kim, characterised Kim as a reasonable man in negotiations, to the point, but with a sense of humor and personally attentive to the people he was hosting.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kim/interviews/kartman.html|title=Interview: Charles Kartman|work=[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]]|publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service]]|date=20 February 2003|access-date=14 April 2010|archive-date=30 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210330145805/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kim/interviews/kartman.html|url-status=live}}</ref> However, psychological evaluations conclude that Kim's [[antisocial personality disorder|antisocial]] features, such as his fearlessness in the face of sanctions and punishment, served to make negotiations extraordinarily difficult.{{sfn|Coolidge|Segal|2009|p=200}}

The field of psychology has long been fascinated with the personality assessment of dictators, a notion that resulted in an extensive personality evaluation of Kim. The report, compiled by Frederick L. Coolidge and Daniel L. Segal (with the assistance of a South Korean psychiatrist considered an expert on Kim's behavior), concluded that the "big six" group of personality disorders shared by dictators [[Adolf Hitler]], [[Joseph Stalin]] and [[Saddam Hussein]] ([[Sadistic personality disorder|sadistic]], [[Paranoid personality disorder|paranoid]], [[Antisocial personality disorder|antisocial]], [[Narcissistic personality disorder|narcissistic]], [[Schizoid personality disorder|schizoid]] and [[Schizotypal personality disorder|schizotypal]]) were also shared by Kim{{spnd}}coinciding primarily with the profile of Saddam Hussein.{{sfn|Coolidge|Segal|2009|p=199}}

The evaluation found that Kim appeared to pride himself on North Korea's independence, despite the extreme hardships it appears to place on the North Korean people{{spnd}}an attribute appearing to emanate from his antisocial personality pattern.{{sfn|Coolidge|Segal|2009|p=200}}

Defectors claimed that Kim had 17 different palaces and residences all over North Korea, including a private resort near [[Baekdu Mountain]], a seaside lodge in the city of [[Wonsan]], and [[Ryongsong Residence]], a palace complex northeast of Pyongyang surrounded with multiple fence lines, [[bunker]]s and anti-aircraft batteries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kim Jong Il, Where He Sleeps and Where He Works |website=[[Daily NK]] |url=https://www.dailynk.com/english/kim-jong-il-where-he-sleeps-and-wh/ |date=15 March 2005 |access-date=5 June 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516044422/http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02300&num=83 |archive-date=16 May 2013}}</ref>

=== Finances ===
According to a 2010 report in the ''[[Sunday Telegraph]]'', Kim had US$4{{nbsp}}billion on deposit in European banks in case he ever needed to flee North Korea. The ''Sunday Telegraph'' reported that most of the money was in banks in [[Luxembourg]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Kim Jong-il keeps $4bn 'emergency fund' in European banks |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/7442188/Kim-Jong-il-keeps-4bn-emergency-fund-in-European-banks.html |first=Oliver |last=Arlow |newspaper=Sunday Telegraph |date=14 March 2010 |access-date=5 June 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522045226/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/7442188/Kim-Jong-il-keeps-4bn-emergency-fund-in-European-banks.html |archive-date=22 May 2018}}</ref>