Kim Jong Il

== Leader of North Korea ==
[[File:The statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang (april 2012).jpg|thumb|North Koreans bowing to the statues of Kim Jong Il and his father, Kim Il Sung, at the [[Mansu Hill Grand Monument]]]]

On 8 July 1994, [[Death and state funeral of Kim Il Sung|Kim Il Sung died]] at the age of 82 from a heart attack.{{sfn|Kleiner|2001|p=291}} Kim Jong Il had been his father's designated successor as early as 1974,{{sfn|Lim|2015|p=90}} named commander-in-chief in 1991,{{sfn|Becker|2006|p=129}} and became Supreme Leader upon his father's death.<ref name="wilsoncenter 1">{{cite web |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/the-rise-kim-jong-il-evidence-east-german-archives\ |title=The Rise of Kim Jong Il – Evidence from East German Archives|publisher=www.wilsoncenter.org|access-date=28 April 2020}}{{Dead link|date=June 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

He officially took over his father's old post as [[General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea]] on 8 October 1997.{{sfn|Buzo|2002|p=175}} In 1998, he was re-elected as chairman of the National Defence Commission, and a constitutional amendment declared that post to be "the highest post of the state."{{sfn|Kleiner|2001|p=296}} Also in 1998, the [[Supreme People's Assembly]] wrote the president's post out of the constitution and designated Kim Il Sung as the country's "[[Eternal President of the Republic|Eternal President]]" in order to honor his memory forever.{{sfn|Kleiner|2001|p=274}}

Officially, Kim was part of a [[triumvirate]] heading the executive branch of the North Korean government along with Premier [[Choe Yong-rim|Choe Yong Rim]] and parliament chairman [[Kim Yong-nam|Kim Yong Nam]] (no relation). Kim commanded the armed forces, Choe Yong Rim headed the government and handled domestic affairs and Kim Yong Nam handled foreign relations. However, in practice, Kim, like his father before him, exercised absolute control over the government and the country. Although not required to stand for popular election to his key offices, he was unanimously elected to the Supreme People's Assembly every five years, representing a military constituency, due to his concurrent capacities as supreme commander of the KPA and chairman of the NDC.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nkleadershipwatch.wordpress.com/kji-2/kim-jong-il-personal-secretariat/|title=The Personal Secretariat|date=21 August 2010|publisher=nkleadershipwatch.wordpress.com |access-date=19 April 2013|archive-date=23 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423220747/http://nkleadershipwatch.wordpress.com/kji-2/kim-jong-il-personal-secretariat/|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Economic policies ===
Kim had a "reputation for being almost comically incompetent in matters of economic management".{{sfn|Lankov|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FHpYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA130 130]}} The [[economy of North Korea]] struggled throughout the 1990s, primarily due to mismanagement. In addition, North Korea experienced severe [[floods]] in the mid-1990s, exacerbated by poor land management.{{sfn|Noland|2004}}<ref name="haggard209">{{cite book|last1=Haggard|last2=Nolan|last3=Sen|title=Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform|year=2009|isbn=978-0231140010|page=209|publisher=Columbia University Press |quote=This tragedy was the result of a misguided strategy of self-reliance that only served to increase the country's vulnerability to both economic and natural shocks ... The state's culpability in this vast misery elevates the North Korean famine to a crime against humanity}}</ref><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> This, compounded with the fact that only 18% of North Korea is arable land<ref>[http://www.country-studies.com/north-korea/agriculture.html "North Korea Agriculture"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061102171647/http://www.country-studies.com/north-korea/agriculture.html |date=2 November 2006 }}, Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. Retrieved 11 March 2007.</ref> and the country's inability to import the goods necessary to sustain industry,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Other Industry – North Korean Targets |url=https://nuke.fas.org/guide/dprk/target/industry.htm|date=15 June 2000|publisher=Federation of American Scientists|website=nuke.fas.org|access-date=5 June 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627192603/https://fas.org/nuke/guide/dprk/target/industry.htm |archive-date=27 June 2015}}</ref> led to a [[Famine in North Korea|severe famine]] and left North Korea economically devastated. Faced with a country in decay, Kim adopted a [[Songun|"Military-First" policy]] to strengthen the country and reinforce the regime.<ref>Homer T. Hodge.{{cite web |url=http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/parameters/03spring/hodge.htm |title=North Korea's Military Strategy |access-date=5 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609120533/http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/parameters/03spring/hodge.htm |archive-date=9 June 2007 }} , ''Parameters'', U.S. Army War College Quarterly, 2003.</ref> On the national scale, the [[Japanese Foreign Ministry]] acknowledges that this has resulted in a positive growth rate for the country since 1996, with the implementation of "landmark socialist-type market economic practices" in 2002, keeping the North afloat despite a continued dependency on foreign aid for food.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Kim Jong-il's military-first policy a silver bullet |first=Myong-choi |last=Kim |website=Asia Times Online |url=http://atimes.com/atimes/Korea/IA04Dg02.html |date=4 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070108182523/http://atimes.com/atimes/Korea/IA04Dg02.html |archive-date=8 January 2007 }}</ref>

In the wake of the devastation of the 1990s, the government began formally approving some activity of small-scale bartering and trade. As observed by Daniel Sneider, associate director for research at the Stanford University [[Asia–Pacific Research Center]], this flirtation with capitalism was "fairly limited, but{{spnd}}especially compared to the past{{spnd}}there are now remarkable markets that create the semblance of a [[free market]] system".<ref>[http://www.cfr.org/publication/10858/ "North Korea's Capitalist Experiment"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090216130206/http://www.cfr.org/publication/10858/ |date=16 February 2009 }}, Council on Foreign Relations, 8 June 2006.</ref>

In 2002, Kim declared that "money should be capable of measuring the worth of all commodities."<ref>{{Cite news|title=On North Korea's streets, pink and tangerine buses|work=Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0602/p07s02-woap.html|date=2 June 2005|access-date=5 June 2023 |issn=0882-7729 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050829074632/http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0602/p07s02-woap.html |archive-date=29 August 2005}}</ref> These gestures toward economic reform mirror similar actions taken by China's [[Deng Xiaoping]] in the late 1980s and early 90s. During a rare visit in 2006, Kim expressed admiration for China's rapid economic progress.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Inside North Korea: A Joint U.S.—Chinese Dialogue|url=https://www.usip.org/publications/2007/01/inside-north-korea-joint-us-chinese-dialogue|first1=Bonnie |last1=Glaser |first2=Chietigj |last2=Bajpaee |date=1 January 2007 |access-date=5 June 2023 |website=United States Institute of Peace |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120926224850/http://www.usip.org/publications/inside-north-korea-joint-us-chinese-dialogue |archive-date=26 September 2012}}</ref>

An unsuccessful devaluation of the [[North Korean won]] in 2009, initiated or approved by Kim personally,{{sfn|Lankov|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FHpYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA130 130]}} caused brief economic chaos and uncovered the vulnerability of the country's societal fabric in the face of crisis.{{sfn|Lankov|2014|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FHpYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA131 131]–[https://books.google.com/books?id=FHpYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 133]}}

=== Foreign relations ===
[[File:Vladimir Putin 4 August 2001-1.jpg|thumb|left|Kim talking with Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]] during their 2001 meeting in Moscow]]
Kim was known as a skilled and manipulative diplomat.{{sfn|Lankov|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FHpYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA130 130]}} In 1998, South Korean President [[Kim Dae-jung]] implemented the "[[Sunshine Policy]]" to improve North-South relations and to allow South Korean companies to start projects in the North. Kim announced plans to import and develop new technologies to develop North Korea's fledgling software industry. As a result of the new policy, the [[Kaesong Industrial Park]] was constructed in 2003 just north of the [[Korean Demilitarized Zone|de-militarized zone]].<ref>[http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/200404/kt2004042317263611880.htm "Asan, KOLAND Permitted to Develop Kaesong Complex"], ''The Korea Times'', 23 April 2004. {{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic|fix-attempted=yes}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

[[File:SD William Cohen meets with Jo Myong Rok in the Pentagon.jpg|thumb|[[Kim Ok]], Kim's personal secretary, with U.S. Secretary of Defense [[William Cohen]], 2000]]
In 1994, North Korea and the United States signed an [[Agreed Framework]] which was designed to freeze and eventually dismantle the North's [[North Korean nuclear weapons program|nuclear weapons program]] in exchange for aid in producing two power-generating [[nuclear reactor]]s and the assurance that it would not be invaded again. In 2000, after a meeting with [[Madeleine Albright]], he agreed to a moratorium on missile construction.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Timeline and Quick Facts on the Korean War|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-korean-war-quick-guide-195745|access-date=2023-01-24|website=ThoughtCo|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rhodes|first1=Richard|last2=Shellenberger|first2=Michael|date=23 May 2017 |title=Atoms for Pyongyang: Let North Korea Have Peaceful Nuclear Power |journal=Foreign Affairs |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/north-korea/2017-05-23/atoms-pyongyang|access-date=5 June 2023|issn=0015-7120}}</ref> In 2002, Kim's government admitted to having produced nuclear weapons since the 1994 agreement. Kim's regime argued the secret production was necessary for security purposes{{spnd}}citing the presence of United States-owned nuclear weapons in South Korea and the new tensions with the United States under President [[George W. Bush]].<ref>{{Cite web|website=GLOCOM Platform |title=Weekly Review #70: Motivation Behind North Korea's Nuclear Confession |date=28 October 2002 |url=http://www.glocom.org/media_reviews/w_review/20021028_weekly_review70/index.html |first=John |last=de Boer |access-date=5 June 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061006230559/http://www.glocom.org/media_reviews/w_review/20021028_weekly_review70/index.html |archive-date=6 October 2006}}</ref> On 9 October 2006, North Korea's Korean Central News Agency announced that it had successfully conducted [[2006 North Korean nuclear test|an underground nuclear test]].<ref name="msnbc1">{{cite web | url=http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2006/200610/news10/10.htm#1 | title=DPRK Successfully Conducts Underground Nuclear Test|publisher=[[Korean Central News Agency]]|date=10 October 2006|access-date=10 October 2006| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061026061534/http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2006/200610/news10/10.htm| archive-date= 26 October 2006 }}</ref>

=== Cult of personality ===
{{Main|North Korean cult of personality}}
[[File:DPRK election.jpg|thumb|A North Korean voting booth containing portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il under the national flag (below the portraits is the ballot box)]]

Kim was the focus of an elaborate [[personality cult]] inherited from his father and founder of the DPRK, Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong Il was often the centre of attention throughout ordinary life in the DPRK. On his 60th birthday (based on his official date of birth), mass celebrations occurred throughout the country on the occasion of his [[Hwangap]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1823713.stm|title=North Korea marks leader's birthday|publisher=BBC|date=16 February 2002|access-date=18 December 2007|archive-date=23 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081123095151/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1823713.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2010, the North Korean media reported that Kim's distinctive clothing had set worldwide fashion trends.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/nkorea-leader-sets-world-fashion-trend-pyongyang-claims-5533361.html|title=N.Korea leader sets world fashion trend, Pyongyang claims|work=The Independent|date=8 April 2010|access-date=14 July 2014|archive-date=13 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513063138/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/nkorea-leader-sets-world-fashion-trend-pyongyang-claims-5533361.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The prevailing point of view is that the people's adherence to Kim's cult of personality was solely out of respect for Kim Il Sung or out of fear of punishment for failure to pay homage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nautilus.org/DPRKbriefingbook/negotiating/issue.html|title="Korean Monarch Kim Jong Il: Technocrat Ruler of the Hermit Kingdom Facing the Challenge of Modernity", The Nautilus Institute|access-date=18 December 2007|last=Mansourov|first=Alexandre|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070816180527/http://nautilus.org/DPRKbriefingbook/negotiating/issue.html|archive-date=16 August 2007}}</ref> Media and government sources from outside North Korea generally support this view,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6368203.stm|title=Nuclear deal fuels Kim's celebrations|publisher=BBC|date=16 February 2007|access-date=18 December 2007|last=Scanlon|first=Charles|archive-date=16 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916084220/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6368203.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article1916374.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026142417/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article1916374.ece|archive-date=26 October 2007|title=Kim Jong Il, the tyrant with a passion for wine, women and the bomb|work=The Independent|date=21 October 2006|access-date=18 December 2007|last=Coonan|first=Clifford|url-status=dead|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2396147,00.html |title='Dear Leader' clings to power while his people pay the price |first=Richard |last=Lloyd Parry |newspaper=The Times |date=10 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061225131438/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2396147,00.html |archive-date=25 December 2006}}</ref><ref name="NZ_Herald_10405224">{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=340&ObjectID=10405224|title=North Korea's 'Dear Leader' flaunts nuclear prowess|date=10 October 2006|agency=[[Reuters]]|work=[[The New Zealand Herald]]|access-date=13 October 2011|archive-date=7 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200107165039/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Compiled by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. [https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27775.htm "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802205210/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27775.htm |date=2 August 2020 }} United States Department of State. 25 February 2004. Retrieved 18 December 2007.</ref> while North Korean government sources aver that it was genuine hero worship.<ref>{{cite web|last=LaBouyer|first=Jason|url=http://www.korea-dpr.com/lodestar0605v.pdf |title=When friends become enemies&nbsp;– Understanding left-wing hostility to the DPRK |access-date=18 December 2007 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090319072854/http://www.korea-dpr.com/lodestar0605v.pdf |archive-date=19 March 2009 |work=Lodestar|date=May–June 2005|pages=7–9|publisher=Korea-DPR.com}}</ref> The song "[[No Motherland Without You]]", sung by the [[Korean People's Army State Merited Chorus and Symphony Orchestra|KPA State Merited Choir]], was created especially for Kim in 1992 and is frequently broadcast on the radio and from loudspeakers on the streets of Pyongyang.<ref>{{cite book|author=Marshall Cavendish Corporation|title=World and Its Peoples: Eastern and Southern Asia|year=2007|page=929|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YG2AFyFppJQC&pg=PA929|isbn=978-0761476313|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|access-date=21 May 2020|archive-date=28 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528065315/https://books.google.com/books?id=YG2AFyFppJQC&pg=PA929|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== 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>