Kim Jong Il

== Ascension to power ==

=== Initial career ===
Kim Jong Il officially joined the Workers' Party of Korea in July 1961.<ref name="ournation-school.com">{{Cite web|title=략력|url=https://ournation-school.com/great/81/2#greates_wrapper|website=Our Nation School}}</ref> He rose up the ranks during the 1960s,<ref>Adrian Buzo, ''The Making of Modern Korea''. London: Routledge Press, 2002, {{ISBN|978-0415237499}}, p. 127.</ref> and benefited greatly from the [[Kapsan Faction Incident]] around 1967, which was the last credible challenge to Kim Il Sung's rule.<ref>Lim Jae-Cheon, ''Leader Symbols and Personality Cult in North Korea: The Leader State''. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2015, {{ISBN|978-1317567400}}.</ref> This incident marked the first time Kim Jong Il was – at age 26 – given official duties by his father, when the younger Kim took part in the investigation and purges that followed the incident.<ref>Lim Jae-Cheon, ''Kim Jong-il's Leadership of North Korea''. New York: Routledge, 2008, {{ISBN|978-1134017126}}, pp. 38–47.</ref>

In addition, Kim Jong Il gave a speech at the plenum; it was his first as a figure of authority. Kim Jong Il's name was also mentioned in public documents, possibly for the first time, indicating that Kim Il Sung might have already planned for Jong Il to succeed him as leader.<ref>Lim Jae-Cheon, ''Leader Symbols and Personality Cult in North Korea: The Leader State'' (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2015, {{ISBN|978-1317567400}}.</ref><ref name="Lim Jae-Cheon 2008">Lim Jae-Cheon, Kim Jong-il's Leadership of North Korea (New York: Routledge, 2008, {{ISBN|978-1134017126}}, pp. 38–47.</ref>

Only six months after, in an unscheduled meeting of the party, Kim Il Sung called for loyalty in the film industry that had betrayed him with ''An Act of Sincerity''.{{efn|''An Act of Sincerity'', described variously as either a film or a stage play, was produced by Kim To-man after the death of Choe Chae-ryon, the wife of Kapsan Faction leader [[Pak Kum-chol]]. It portrayed Choe in a positive light and emphasized her devotion to her husband. Kim Il-sung disapproved of it and implied that it exhibited misplaced loyalty.<ref name="rajongyil">{{cite book|last=Ra|first=Jong-yil|author-mask=Ra Jong-yil|translator=Jinna Park|title=Inside North Korea's Theocracy: The Rise and Sudden Fall of Jang Song-thaek|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yEyWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA35|year=2019|publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany|isbn=978-1438473734|access-date=4 August 2022|archive-date=4 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220804174029/https://books.google.com/books?id=yEyWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA35|url-status=live}}</ref>}} Kim Jong Il himself announced that he was up to the task and thus begun his influential career in North Korean film-making,<ref name="Lim Jae-Cheon 2008"/> during which he made significant efforts to further intensify the personality cult of his father and attach himself to it.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Levi|first=Nicolas|date=2015-06-30|title=Kim Jong Il: a film director who ran a country|url=https://www.jomswsge.com/,81826,0,2.html|journal=Journal of Modern Science|language=en |volume=25|issue=2|pages=155–166|issn=1734-2031}}</ref>

Kim Jong Il was elected to the [[Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea|Central Committee]] in 1972 and became its secretary the following year.<ref name="ournation-school.com"/>

However, when Kim Il Sung began to contemplate the succession question in the early 1970s,<ref>{{citation |title=Kim Il-Sung: The North Korean Leader |last=Suh |first=Dae-Sook |year=1988 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0231065733 |url=https://archive.org/details/00book729884 |pages=276–280 }}</ref> it was not certain that Kim Jong Il would be his successor.<ref name="rajongyil"/> There was Kim's uncle, [[Kim Yong Ju]], who was once believed to be Kim Il Sung's eventual successor<ref>"The Losers in N. Korea's Ruling Family", ''Chosun Ilbo'', 17 February 2011.</ref> but who had made several mistakes in the struggle for power, had serious flaws,<ref name="rajongyil"/> and was becoming increasingly marginalized.<ref name="memoirs">Hwang Jang Yop's Memoirs (2006)</ref> Then there was the more serious threat posed by his stepmother's, [[Kim Song-ae]]'s, children, especially by the eldest, [[Kim Pyong Il]].<ref name="rajongyil"/>

In the end, Kim Jong Il won out: Kim Yong Ju was removed from his top posts and demoted to vice-premier.<ref name="memoirs"/> Then Kim Song-ae lost her position as [[Socialist Women's Union of Korea|chair of the KDWL]], which was her vital power base.<ref>Jang Jin-sung: Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee – A Look Inside North Korea, 2014.</ref> Kim Pyong Il had many positive characteristics<ref name="rajongyil"/> but he was also known as a womanizer who threw raucous parties where the attendees sometimes shouted, "Long live Kim Pyong Il!" Kim Jong Il reported this to his father, knowing that it could be portrayed as a threat to the personality cult surrounding him. Reportedly, Kim Il Sung was infuriated and Pyong Il thus fell out of favor, strengthening Kim Jong Il's position.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/left-out-in-the-cold-the-man-who-would-be-kim-7561670.html|first=Shaun|last=Walker|title=Left out in the cold: the man who would be Kim|periodical=The Independent|date=2012-03-12|access-date=2024-03-10|archive-date=16 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116000725/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/left-out-in-the-cold-the-man-who-would-be-kim-7561670.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1979, Kim Pyong Il began a series of diplomatic postings in [[Europe]], arranged so as then he couldn't influence politics in North Korea.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk03100&num=2040|title=Photos of Kim Jong Il's Brother, Kim Pyong Il and Recent Visits|last=Kim|first=Song-A|date=2007-05-09|access-date=2024-03-10|periodical=Daily NK|archive-date=27 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927014305/http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk03100&num=2040|url-status=live}}</ref> Kim Pyong Il only returned to North Korea in 2019.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nknews.org/2019/11/kim-pyong-il-long-time-north-korean-ambassador-in-europe-returns-home/|title=Kim Pyong Il, long-time North Korean ambassador in Europe, returns home|date=8 November 2019|website=[[NK News]]|access-date=10 March 2024|archive-date=1 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200501192209/https://www.nknews.org/2019/11/kim-pyong-il-long-time-north-korean-ambassador-in-europe-returns-home/|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to Kim Jong Il's official biography, the Central Committee already appointed him successor to Kim Il Sung in 1974. The first public confirmation of Kim Jong Il's position as successor came in 1977, when in a booklet he was designated as Kim Il Sung's only heir.<ref>{{citation |title=Kim Il-Sung: The North Korean Leader |last=Suh |first=Dae-Sook |year=1988 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0231065733 |url=https://archive.org/details/00book729884 |pages=276–280 }}</ref>

=== Heir apparent ===
{{More citations needed section|date=July 2021}}
By the time of the [[6th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea|Sixth Party Congress]] in October 1980, Kim's control of the Party operation was complete. He was given senior posts in the [[Presidium of the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea|Presidium]], the [[Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea|Military Commission]] and the party [[Secretariat of the Workers' Party of Korea|Secretariat]]. When he was made a member of the [[1982 North Korean parliamentary election|Seventh Supreme People's Assembly]] in February 1982, international observers deemed him the [[heir apparent]] of North Korea. Prior to 1980, he had no public profile and was referred to only as the "Party Centre".{{sfn|Buzo|2002|p=127}} At this time Kim assumed the title "Dear Leader" ({{korean|hangul=친애하는 지도자|mr=ch'inaehanŭn jidoja|context=north}}),<ref name="dear">{{Cite web|date=19 November 2004 |title=North Korea's dear leader less dear |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/north-koreas-dear-leader-less-dear-20041119-gdz0y6.html|access-date=5 June 2023|website=The Age |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213145724/http://www.theage.com.au/news/North-Korea/North-Koreas-dear-leader-less-dear/2004/11/18/1100748136912.html |archive-date=13 February 2007}}</ref> and the government began building a [[personality cult]] around him patterned after that of his father, the "Great Leader". Kim was regularly hailed by the media as the "fearless leader" and "the great successor to the revolutionary cause". He emerged as the most powerful figure behind his father in North Korea.

By the 1980s, North Korea began to experience severe economic stagnation. Kim Il Sung's policy of ''[[Juche]]'' (self-reliance) cut the country off from almost all external trade, even with its traditional partners, the Soviet Union and China. South Korea accused Kim of ordering the [[Rangoon bombing|1983 bombing in Rangoon]], Burma which killed 17 visiting South Korean officials, including four cabinet members, and another in 1987 which killed all 115 onboard [[Korean Air Flight 858]].<ref name="yangon">[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/asia/northkorea/keyplayers/kimjongil.html "North Korea: Nuclear Standoff"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103133000/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/asia/northkorea/keyplayers/kimjongil.html |date=3 January 2014 }}, ''The Online NewsHour'', [[PBS]], 19 October 2006.</ref> A North Korean agent, [[Kim Hyon-hui|Kim Hyon Hui]], confessed to planting a bomb in the case of the second, saying the operation was ordered by Kim personally.<ref name="hyonhui">{{Cite news |date=16 December 2004 |title=Fake ashes, very real North Korean sanctions |url=http://atimes.com/atimes/Japan/FL16Dh02.html|newspaper=Asia Times Online|first=Kosuke|last=Takahashi |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041216133117/http://atimes.com/atimes/Japan/FL16Dh02.html |archive-date=16 December 2004 }}</ref>

On 24 December 1991, Kim was also named [[Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16325390|title=Kim Jong-un 'supreme commander'|date=24 December 2011|access-date=6 January 2020|language=en-GB|archive-date=11 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111012615/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16325390|url-status=live}}</ref> Defence Minister [[Oh Jin-wu|Oh Jin Wu]], one of Kim Il Sung's most loyal subordinates, engineered Kim's acceptance by the Army as the next leader of North Korea, despite his lack of military service. In 1992, Kim Il Sung publicly stated that his son was in charge of all internal affairs in the Democratic People's Republic.

In 1992, radio broadcasts started referring to him as the "Dear Father", instead of the "Dear Leader", suggesting a promotion. His 50th birthday in February was the occasion for massive celebrations, exceeded only by those for the 80th [[birthday of Kim Il-sung|birthday of Kim Il Sung]] himself on 15 April that same year.

In 1992, Kim made his first public speech during a military parade for the KPA's 60th anniversary and said:<ref name="Lim2008">{{cite book|author=Jae-Cheon Lim|title=Kim Jong-il's Leadership of North Korea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ag16AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA155|access-date=21 July 2015|year=2008 |publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1134017126|page=155|archive-date=4 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804040908/https://books.google.com/books?id=ag16AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 |url-status=live}}</ref> "Glory to the officers and soldiers of the heroic Korean People's Army!".<ref name="Jeffries2012">{{cite book|author=Ian Jeffries|title=North Korea, 2009–2012: A Guide to Economic and Political Developments|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DVv-IYB2E-QC&pg=PA674|access-date=21 July 2015|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1135116989|page=674|archive-date=4 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804041105/https://books.google.com/books?id=DVv-IYB2E-QC&pg=PA674 |url-status=live}}</ref> These words were followed by a loud applause by the crowd at Pyongyang's [[Kim Il Sung Square]] where the parade was held.

Kim was named [[Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea|Chairman]] of the [[National Defence Commission of North Korea|National Defence Commission]] on 9 April 1993, making him day-to-day commander of the armed forces.<ref name="nkle_20th">{{Cite web|title=20th Anniversary of Kim Jong Il's Election as NDC Chairman Commemorated|website=nkleadershipwatch.wordpress.com|date=8 April 2014|access-date=15 December 2014|url=http://nkleadershipwatch.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/20th-anniversary-of-kim-jong-ils-election-as-ndc-chairman-commemorated/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220151007/https://nkleadershipwatch.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/20th-anniversary-of-kim-jong-ils-election-as-ndc-chairman-commemorated/|archive-date=20 February 2015}}</ref>

According to defector [[Hwang Jang-yop|Hwang Jang Yop]], the North Korean government system became even more centralized and [[autocratic]] during the 1980s and 1990s under Kim than it had been under his father. In one example explained by Hwang, although Kim Il Sung required his ministers to be loyal to him, he nonetheless and frequently sought their advice during decision-making. In contrast, Kim Jong Il demanded absolute obedience and agreement from his ministers and party officials with no advice or compromise, and he viewed any slight deviation from his thinking as a sign of disloyalty. According to Hwang, Kim Jong Il personally directed even minor details of state affairs, such as the size of houses for party secretaries and the delivery of gifts to his subordinates.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://irp.fas.org/world/rok/nis-docs/hwang2.htm|title=Testimony of Hwang Jang-yop |website=irp.fas.org|access-date=5 May 2022|archive-date=3 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303125611/https://irp.fas.org/world/rok/nis-docs/hwang2.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Kim Jong-il in North Korean propaganda (6075328850).jpg|thumb|Idealized portrait of Kim Jong Il]]