Kim Jong Il

=== 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]}}