Kim Jong Il

=== 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>