Early political career (1964–1979)
After graduating in 1964, Kim Jong-il began his ascension through the ranks of the ruling Korean Workers' Party (KWP). His entrance to politics was met by the tensions within the global communist movement caused by the
Sino-Soviet split. Still following
Marxism-Leninism as their core ideology, the KWP had launched an offensive against elements within the party deemed
revisionist. Dubbed "anti-Party revisionists", senior cadre had spread feudal
Confucian ideas, attempted to water down the party's revolutionary line and ignored orders from General Secretary Kim Il-sung.
[20]Shortly after his graduation, Kim was appointed instructor and section chief to the Party Central Committee. His first activities were undertaking parts of the WPK offensive. He agitated amongst officials to ensure party activities did not deviate from the ideological line set by Kim Il-sung, and worked to reveal anti-Party revisionists. He also put in place measures to ensure the Party's ideological system was rigidly enforced among the country's
media, writers and artists.
[21][unreliable source?]During the late 1960s, Kim wrote a number of discourses on economics. He rallied against moves to make material incentive the primary force behind economic development, and toured the country giving guidance on technical restructuring occurring within industry at the time.
[16]:25–59[unreliable source?]Between 1967–1969, Kim turned his attention to the military. He believed bureaucrats within the Korean People's Army (KPA) were oppressing the Army's political organizations and distorting state orders. Kim decided these elements posed a threat to the WPK's control of the military. At the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Fourth Party Committee of the KPA, he exposed certain officers believed to be responsible, who were subsequently expelled.
[16]:24–25[unreliable source?]During his early years in the Party Central Committee, Kim also oversaw activities of the
Propaganda and Agitation Department, in which he worked to revolutionize the Korean fine arts. Artists were encouraged to create works new in content and form, produced by new systems and methods, and abandoning old traditions in the Korean arts.
Kim's theory was that film combined a number of artistic forms, and therefore the development of Korean cinema would in turn develop other artistic spheres. This began with film adaptations for Kim Il-sung's works written during World War II, beginning with
Five Guerrilla Brothers in 1967. In the early 1970s, operatic adaptations of Kim Il-sung's works began.
[16]:35–40[unreliable source?]Kim was appointed vice-director of the Party Central Committee (PCC) in September 1970, and became an elected member of the PCC in October 1972. In 1973 he was made party secretary in charge of organization affairs, and simultaneously, propaganda and agitation affairs.
[16][22] This was the chief position in the party, and it enabled Kim to become an authoritative interpreter of his father's ideas, giving him immense power.
[22]During the early 1970s, Kim worked to eliminate bureaucracy and encourage political activity amongst the people by Party officials. This included a policy forcing bureaucrats to work among workers at the next subordinate level for 20 days per month.
[23][unreliable source?]In February 1974, Kim Jong-il was elected to the Political Committee of the PCC. By this time he had acquired the nicknames of "dear leader" and "intelligent leader", according to his official biography.
[16]:48[unreliable source?]That same year, Kim launched the
Three-revolution Team Movement. Described as "a new method of guiding the revolution", the movement introduced teams which travelled around the country providing political, scientific and technical training through short courses. The expertise gained was continually developed through mass meetings in which knowledge could be shared.
During the late 1970s, Kim was involved in economic planning, including several campaigns to rapidly develop certain sectors of the economy.
[16]:56-60 He worked on initiatives to build mass political movements within the military, including the Three Revolution Red Flag Movement, Red Flag Company Movement and the Red Flag Vanguard Company Movement.
[16]:72[unreliable source?]He was also active in efforts to build a campaign for the reunification of Korea. This included assisting in the formation of the International Liaison Committee for the Independent and Peaceful Reunification of Korea in 1977, attending talks between political parties and groups within the DPRK, and taking part in high-level negotiations between the DPRK and
Republic of Korea.
[16]:72-75[unreliable source?]Presidium member and party secretary (1980–1994)
By the time of the Sixth Party Congress in October 1980, Kim Jong-il's control of the Party operation was complete. He was given senior posts in the
Politburo, the Military Commission and the party Secretariat. When he was made a member of the Seventh Supreme People's Assembly in February 1982, international observers deemed him the
heir apparent of North Korea.
At this time Kim assumed the title "Dear Leader" (친애한 지도자,
chinaehan jidoja)
[24] the government began building a
personality cultaround him patterned after that of his father, the "Great Leader". Kim Jong-il 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.
On 24 December 1991, Kim was also named supreme commander of the North Korean armed forces. Since the Army is the real foundation of power in North Korea, this was a vital step. Defense Minister Oh Jin-wu, one of Kim Il-sung's most loyal subordinates, engineered Kim Jong-il's acceptance by the Army as the next leader of North Korea, despite his lack of military service. The only other possible leadership candidate, Prime Minister
Kim Il (no relation), was removed from his posts in 1976. 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 himself on 15 April.
According to defector
Hwang Jang-yop, the North Korean system became even more centralized and
autocratic under Kim Jong-il than it had been under his father. Although Kim Il-sung required his ministers to be loyal to him, he nonetheless sought their advice in decision-making. In contrast, Kim Jong-il demands absolute obedience and agreement with no advice or compromise, and he views any deviation from his thinking as a sign of disloyalty. According to Hwang, Kim Jong-il personally directs even minor details of state affairs, such as the size of houses for party secretaries and the delivery of gifts to his subordinates.
[25]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
1983 bombing in Rangoon,
Burma (now
Yangon, Myanmar), which killed 17 visiting South Korean officials, including four cabinet members, and another in 1987 which killed all 115 on board
Korean Air Flight 858.
[26] A North Korean agent,
Kim Hyon Hui, confessed to planting a bomb in the case of the second, saying the operation was ordered by Kim Jong-il personally.
[27]In 1992, Kim Jong-il's voice was broadcast within North Korea for the only time. During a military parade for the KPA's 60th year anniversary in Pyongyang's then Central Square (
Kim Il-sung Square at present), in which Kim Il-sung attended, he approached the microphone at the grandstand and simply said "Glory to the heroic soldiers of the Korean People's Army!" Everyone in the audience clapped and the parade participants at the square grounds (which included veteran soldiers and officers of the KPA) shouted "
ten thousand years" three times after that.
Ruler of North Korea
On 8 July 1994,
Kim Il-sung died, at the age of 82 from a heart attack. However, it took three years for Kim Jong-il to consolidate his power. He officially took the titles of General Secretary of the
Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the
National Defense Commission on 8 October 1997. In 1998, his Defense Commission chairmanship was declared to be "the highest post of the state", so Kim may be regarded as North Korea's head of state from that date. Also in 1998, the Supreme People's Assembly wrote the president's post out of the constitution in memory of Kim Il-Sung, who was designated the country's "
Eternal President". It can be argued, though, that he became the country's leader when he became leader of the Workers' Party; in most Communist countries the party leader is the most powerful person in the country.
Officially, Kim is part of a
triumvirate heading the executive branch of the North Korean government along with Premier
Choe Yong-rim and parliament chairman
Kim Yong-nam (no relations). Each nominally has powers equivalent to a third of a president's powers in most other presidential systems. Kim Jong-il is commander of the armed forces, Choe Yong-rim heads the government and Kim Yong-nam handles foreign relations. In practice, however, Kim Jong-il exercises absolute control over the government and the country.
Although Kim is not required to stand for popular election to his key offices, he is unanimously elected to the Supreme People's Assembly every five years, representing a military constituency, due to his concurrent capacities as KPA Supreme Commander and Chairman of the DPRK NDC.
Economic policies
The state-controlled
economy of North Korea struggled throughout the 1990s, primarily due to the loss of strategic trade arrangements with the
Soviet Union[28] and strained relations with China following China's normalization with South Korea in 1992.
[29] In addition, North Korea experienced record-breaking
floods (1995 and 1996) followed by several years of equally severe drought beginning in 1997.
[30] This, compounded with only 18% arable land
[31] and an inability to import the goods necessary to sustain industry,
[32] led to an
immense famineand left North Korea in economic shambles. Faced with a country in decay, Kim adopted a
"Military-First" policy (선군정치, Sŏn'gun chŏngch'i) to strengthen the country and reinforce the regime.
[33] On the national scale, this policy has produced a positive growth rate for the country since 1996, and the implementation of "landmark socialist-type market economic practices" in 2002 kept the North afloat despite a continued dependency on foreign aid for food.
[34]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 is "fairly limited, but — especially compared to the past — there are now remarkable markets that create the semblance of a
free market system."
[35] In 2002, Kim Jong-il declared that "money should be capable of measuring the worth of all commodities."
[36] 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.
[37]Foreign relations
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 Jong-il 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
de-militarized zone, with the planned participation of 250 South Korean companies, employing 100,000 North Koreans, by 2007.
[38] However, by March 2007, the Park contained only 21 companies — employing 12,000 North Korean workers.
[39] As of May 2010 the park employs over 40,000 North Korean workers.
[40]In 1994, North Korea and the United States signed an
Agreed Framework which was designed to freeze and eventually dismantle the North's
nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid in producing two power-generating
nuclear reactors.
[41] In 2002, Kim Jong-il's government admitted to having produced nuclear weapons since the 1994 agreement. Kim's regime argued the secret production was necessary for security purposes — citing the presence of United States-owned nuclear weapons in South Korea and the new tensions with the US under President
George W. Bush.
[42] On 9 October 2006, North Korea's Korean Central News Agency announced that it had successfully conducted an underground
nuclear test.
2008 health and waning power rumors
In an August 2008 issue of the Japanese newsweekly
Shukan Gendai,
Waseda University professor Toshimitsu Shigemura, an authority on the
Korean Peninsula,
[43] claimed that Kim Jong-il died of
diabetes in late 2003 and had been replaced in public appearances by one or more stand-ins previously employed to protect him from assassination attempts.
[44] In a subsequent best-selling book,
The True Character of Kim Jong-il, Shigemura cited apparently un-named people close to Kim's family along with Japanese and South Korean intelligence sources, claiming they confirmed Kim's diabetes took a turn for the worse early in 2000 and from then until his supposed death three and a half years later he was using a wheelchair. Shigemura moreover claimed a voiceprint analysis of Kim speaking in 2004 did not match a known earlier recording. It was also noted that Kim Jong-il did not appear in public for the
Olympic torch relay in Pyongyang on 28 April 2008. The question had reportedly "baffled foreign
intelligence agencies for years."
[45]On 9 September 2008, various sources reported that after he did not show up that day for a military parade celebrating North Korea's 60th anniversary, US intelligence agencies believed Kim might be "gravely ill" after having suffered a stroke. He had last been seen in public a month earlier.
[46][47] A former
CIA official said earlier reports of a health crisis were likely to be accurate. North Korean media remained silent on the issue. An
Associated Press report said analysts believed Kim had been supporting moderates in the foreign ministry, while North Korea's powerful military was against so-called "Six-Party" negotiations with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States aimed towards ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons. Some US officials noted that soon after rumours about Kim's health were publicized a month before, North Korea had taken a "tougher line in nuclear negotiations." In late August North Korea's official news agency reported the government would "consider soon a step to restore the nuclear facilities in
Yongbyon to their original state as strongly requested by its relevant institutions." Analysts said this meant "the military may have taken the upper hand and that Kim might no longer be wielding absolute authority."
[48]By 10 September there were conflicting reports. Unidentified South Korean government officials said Kim had undergone surgery after suffering a minor stroke and had apparently "intended to attend 9 September event in the afternoon but decided not to because of the aftermath of the surgery." High ranking North Korean official
Kim Yong-nam said, "While we wanted to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the country with General Secretary Kim Jong-Il, we celebrated on our own." Song Il-Ho, North Korea's ambassador said, "We see such reports as not only worthless, but rather as a conspiracy plot." Seoul's
Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that "the South Korean embassy in Beijing had received an intelligence report that Kim collapsed on 22 August."
[49] The
New York Times reported Kim was "very ill and most likely suffered a stroke a few weeks ago, but US intelligence authorities do not think his death is imminent."
[50] The
BBC noted that the North Korean government denied these reports, stating that Kim's health problems were "not serious enough to threaten his life,"
[51][52] although they did confirm that he had suffered from a stroke on 15 August.
[53]Japan's
Kyodo news agency reported on 14 September that "Kim collapsed on 14 August due to stroke or a
cerebral hemorrhage, and that Beijing dispatched five military doctors at the request of Pyongyang. Kim will require a long period of rest and rehabilitation before he fully recovers and has complete command of his limbs again, as with typical stroke victims." Japan's
Mainichi Shimbun said Kim occasionally lost consciousness since April.
[54] Japan's
Tokyo Shimbun on 15 September added that Kim was staying at the Bongwha State Guest House. He was apparently conscious "but he needs some time to recuperate from the recent stroke, with some parts of his hands and feet paralyzed". It cited Chinese sources which claimed that one cause for the stroke could have been stress brought about by the US delay to remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
[55]On 19 October, North Korea reportedly ordered its diplomats to stay near their embassies to await “an important message”, according to Japan's
Yomiuri Shimbun,
[56] setting off renewed speculation about the health of the ailing leader.
By 29 October 2008, reports stated Kim suffered a serious setback and had been taken back to hospital.
[57] The
New York Times reported that
Taro Aso, on 28 October 2008, stated in a
parliamentary session that Kim had been hospitalized: "His condition is not so good. However, I don't think he is totally incapable of making decisions." Aso further said a French
neurosurgeon was aboard a plane for Beijing, en route to North Korea. Further, Kim Sung-ho, director of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, told lawmakers in a closed parliamentary session in
Seoul that "Kim appeared to be recovering quickly enough to start performing his daily duties."
[58] The
Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported "a serious problem" with Kim's health. Japan's
Fuji Television Network reported that Kim's eldest son,
Kim Jong Nam, traveled to Paris to hire a neurosurgeon for his father, and showed footage where the surgeon boarded flight CA121 bound for Pyongyang from Beijing on 24 October. The French weekly
Le Point identified him as Francois-Xavier Roux,
neurosurgery director of Paris' Sainte-Anne Hospital, but Roux himself stated he was in Beijing for several days and not North Korea.
[59]On 5 November 2008, the North's Korean Central News Agency published 2 photos showing Kim posing with dozens of
Korean People's Army (KPA) soldiers on a visit to military Unit 2200 and sub-unit of Unit 534. Shown with his usual
bouffant hairstyle, with his trademark sunglasses and a white winter parka, Kim stood in front of trees with autumn foliage and a red-and-white banner.
[60][61][62][63][64][65] The Times questioned the authenticity of at least one of these photos.
[66]In November 2008, Japan's
TBS TV network reported that Kim had suffered a second stroke in October, which "affected the movement of his left arm and leg and also his ability to speak."
[67][68] However, South Korea's intelligence agency rejected this report.
[68]In response to the rumors regarding Kim's health and supposed loss of power, in April 2009, North Korea released a video showing Kim visiting factories and other places around the country between November and December 2008.
[69] In July 2009, it was reported that Kim may be suffering from pancreatic cancer.
[70][71]Successor
Kim's three sons and his son-in-law, along with
O Kuk-ryol, an army general, have been noted as possible successors, but the North Korean government has been wholly silent on this matter.
[73] South Korean media have suggested Kim is grooming his son
Kim Jong-chul, while defectors and Western media have suggested the possibility of his youngest known son Kim Jong-un who is described to be "just like his father", has the exact same political views and his explosive tempers,
[citation needed] but Kim Yong Hyun, a political expert at the Institute for North Korean Studies at
Seoul's
Dongguk University, has said, "Even the North Korean establishment would not advocate a continuation of the family
dynasty at this point."
[74] Kim's eldest son
Kim Jong-nam was earlier believed to be the designated heir but he appears to have fallen out of favor after being arrested at
Narita International Airport near Tokyo in 2001 while traveling on a
forged passport.
[75]On 2 June 2009, it was reported that Kim Jong Il's youngest son, Jong Un, was to be North Korea's next leader.
[76] Like his father and grandfather, he has also been given an official sobriquet, The Brilliant Comrade.
[77] It has been reported that Kim Jong Il is expected to officially designate the son as his successor in 2012.
[78] However, there are reports that if leadership passes to one of the sons, Kim Jong Il's brother-in-law,
Chang Sung-taek, could attempt to take power from him.
[78]Re-election as DPRK leader
On 9 April 2009, Kim was re-elected as chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission,
[79] and made an appearance at the Supreme People's Assembly. This was the first time Kim was seen in public since August 2008. He was unanimously re-elected and given a standing ovation.
[80]2009 imprisonment and pardoning of American journalists
On 4 August 2009, former US President
Bill Clinton met with Kim Jong-il during a "solely private mission to secure the release of
Euna Leeand
Laura Ling."
[84] According to the KCNA, Clinton conveyed a verbal message to Kim from President
Barack Obama,
[85] a claim denied by the Obama administration.
[84] Clinton and Kim had "an exhaustive conversation" that included "a wide-ranging exchange of views on the matters of common concern," KCNA reported.
[84] KCNA also reported that the
National Defence Commission of North Korea, of which the Dear Leader is the Chairman, hosted a dinner in honor of Clinton, but did not go into detail about what was discussed at the reception.
[85] In the early morning hours (
UTC+9) of 5 August, KCNA announced that Kim Jong-il had issued a pardon to Lee and Ling.
[86]2010 visits to China
Kim was reported to have visited the People's Republic of China in May 2010. He entered the country by his personal train on 3 May, and stayed in a hotel in
Dalian.
[87] Kim travelled to China again in August 2010, this time with his son, fueling speculation that he is ready to hand over power to son
Kim Jong-un.
[88]Cult of personality
Kim Jong-il is the centre of an elaborate
personality cult inherited from his father and founder of the DPRK, Kim Il-sung. Defectors have been quoted as saying that North Korean schools deify both father and son.
[89] He is often the centre of attention throughout ordinary life in the DPRK. His birthday is one of the most important public holidays in the country
[citation needed]. On his 60th birthday (based on his official date of birth), mass celebrations occurred throughout the country on the occasion of his
Hwangap.
[90] Many North Koreans believe that he has the "magical" ability to "
control the weather" based on his mood.
[89]One point of view is that Kim Jong Il's cult of personality is solely out of respect for Kim Il-sung or out of fear of punishment for failure to pay homage.
[91] Media and government sources from outside of North Korea generally support this view,
[92][93][94][95][96] while North Korean government sources say that it is genuine hero worship.
[97] The song "
No Motherland Without You", sung by the KPA State Merited Choir, was created especially for Kim in 1992 and is one of the most popular tunes in the country.
Personal life
Family
There is no official information available about Kim Jong-il's marital history, but he is believed to have been officially married once and to have had three
mistresses.
[98] He has four known children:
Kim's first wife,
Kim Young-sook, was the daughter of a high-ranking military official. His father Kim Il-Sung handpicked her to marry his son.
[98] The two have been estranged for some years. Kim has a daughter from this marriage, Kim Sul-song (born 1974).
[99]Kim's first mistress,
Song Hye-rim, was a star of North Korean films. She was married to another man when they met; Kim is reported to have forced her husband to divorce her. The relationship was not officially recognized, and after years of estrangement she is believed to have died in Moscow in the
Central Clinical Hospital in 2002.
[100] They had one son, Kim Jong-nam (born 1971) who is Kim Jong-il's eldest son.
[101]His second mistress,
Ko Young-hee, was a Japanese-born ethnic Korean and a dancer. She had taken over the role of
First Lady until her death — reportedly of cancer — in 2004. They had two sons, Kim Jong-chul, in 1981, and Kim Jong-un (also "Jong Woon" or "Jong Woong"), in 1983.
[101][102]Since Ko's death, Kim has been living with
Kim Ok, his third mistress, who had served as his personal secretary since the 1980s. She "virtually acts as North Korea's first lady" and frequently accompanies Kim on his visits to military bases and in meetings with visiting foreign dignitaries. She traveled with Kim Jong Il on a secretive trip to China in January 2006, where she was received by Chinese officials as Kim's wife.
[103]
Personality
Like his father, Kim has a
fear of flying,
[105] and has always traveled by
private armored train for state visits to Russia and China. The
BBCreported that Konstantin Pulikovsky, a Russian emissary who traveled with Kim across Russia by train, told reporters that Kim had live
lobsters air-lifted to the train every day.
[106]Although Kim enjoys many foreign forms of entertainment, according to former bodyguard
Lee Young Kuk, he refused to consume any food or drink not produced in North Korea, with the exception of wine from France.
[112] His former sushi chef
Kenji Fujimoto, however, has stated that Kim has sometimes sent him around the world to purchase a variety of foreign
delicacies.
[113]US Special Envoy for the Korean Peace Talks, Charles Kartman, who was involved in the 2000 Madeleine Albright summit with Kim, characterised Kim Jong-il as a reasonable man in negotiations, to the point, but with a sense of humor and personally attentive to the people he was hosting.
[118] However, psychological evaluations conclude that Kim Jong-il's
antisocial features, such as his fearlessness in the face of sanctions and punishment, serve to make negotiations extraordinarily difficult.
[119]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 Jong-il. The report, compiled by Frederick L. Coolidge and Daniel L. Segal (with the assistance of a South Korean psychiatrist considered an expert on Kim Jong-il's behavior), concluded that the “big six” group of personality disorders shared by dictators
Adolf Hitler,
Joseph Stalin, and
Saddam Hussein (
sadistic,
paranoid,
antisocial,
narcissistic,
schizoid and
schizotypal) were also shared by Kim Jong-il—coinciding primarily with the profile of Saddam Hussein.
[119] The evaluation also finds that Kim Jong-il appears to pride himself on North Korea's independence, despite the extreme hardships it appears to place on the North Korean people—an attribute appearing to emanate from his antisocial personality pattern.
[119] This notion also encourages other cognitive issues, such as
self-deception, as subsidiary components to Kim Jong-il's personality. Many of the stories about Kim Jong Il's eccentricities and decadent life-style are exaggerated, possibly circulated by South Korean intelligence to discredit the Northern regime.
[120] Defectors claim that Kim has 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 a palace complex northeast of Pyongyang surrounded with multiple fence lines,
bunkers and anti-aircraft batteries.
[121]Finances
According to the
Sunday Telegraph, Kim has US$4 billion on deposit in European banks in case he ever needs to flee North Korea. The newspaper reported that most of the money was in banks in
Luxembourg
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