Kim Jong Il

=== 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>