Korean Peninsula
Chosŏn Pando (조선반도; 朝鮮半島) (in N. Korea), Han Bando (한반도; 韓半島) (in S. Korea)
Peninsulas of Asia
Countries	North Korea, South Korea
Borders on	China, Sea of Japan, East China Sea, Yellow Sea, Korea Strait
Length	1,100 km (684 mi), north to south
Area	220,847 km2 (85,270 sq mi)

This article contains Korean text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Hangul or Hanja.

The Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. It extends southwards for about 684 miles (1,100 km) from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan to the east, and the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the first two bodies of water.

Until the end of World War II, Korea was a single political entity whose territory roughly coincided with the Korean Peninsula. Since the Armistice Agreement ended the Korean War in 1953, the northern division of the peninsula has been governed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, while the southern portion has been governed by the Republic of Korea.

The northern boundaries for the Korean Peninsula are commonly (and tacitly) taken to coincide with today's political borders between North Korea and her northern neighbors, China (1,416 km (880 mi) along the provinces of Jilin and Liaoning) and Russia (19 km (12 mi)). These borders are formed naturally by the rivers Yalu/Amnok and Tumen/Tuman/Duman. Taking this definition, the Korean Peninsula (including its islands) has an area of 220,847 km² (85,270 sq mi).

The peninsula is called Chosŏn Pando (조선반도; 朝鮮半島) in North Korea and Han Bando (한반도; 韓半島) in South Korea based on the respective names of the two countries. They both use "Korea" as part of their official English names.

Physical geography[link]

Mountains cover 70 percent of the Korean Peninsula and arable plains are generally small and far in between the successive mountain ranges. The peninsula becomes more mountainous towards the north and the east, with the highest mountains (including Baekdu Mountain which stands at 2,744 m (9,003 ft)) found in the north.

The peninsula has 8,460 km (5,260 mi) of coastline, and the south and west coasts are highly irregular in particular; most of the 3,579 islands off the peninsula are found along the south and the west coasts.

Climate[link]

Heavy snow fell on the eastern peninsula in February 2011.

The climate of the Korean Peninsula differs dramatically from north to south. The southern regions experience a relatively warm and wet climate similar to that of Japan, affected by warm ocean waters including the East Korea Warm Current. The northern regions experience a colder and to some extent more inland climate, in common with Manchuria. For example, the annual precipitation of the Yalu River valley (600 mm (24 in)) is less than half of that on the south coast (1,500 mm (59 in)).^[1] Likewise, there is a 20 °C (68 °F) difference in January temperature between the peninsula's southern and northern tips.

The entire peninsula, however, is affected by similar general patterns, including the East Asian monsoon in midsummer and the frequent incidence of typhoons in autumn. The majority of rainfall takes place during the summer months, with nearly half during the monsoon alone. Winters are cold, with January temperatures typically below freezing outside of Jeju Island. Winter precipitation is minimal, with little snow accumulation outside of mountainous areas.

Biology[link]

Surveys of Korean flora have identified more than 3,000 species on the peninsula, of which more than 500 are endemic. The peninsula's floristic provinces are commonly divided between warm-temperate, temperate, and cold-temperate zones. The warm-temperate zone prevails over the southern coast and islands, including Jeju-do. It is largely typified by broad-leaved evergreens.

The temperate zone covers the great majority of the peninsula, away from the southern coast and high mountains. It is dominated by the Korean pine and various broad-leaved deciduous trees. Cold-temperate vegetation is found along the peninsula's northern fringe and in the high mountains, including the upper reaches of Hallasan on Jeju. Evergreens in this area include larch and juniper. Much of this vegetation is shared with Manchuria.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the Korean Peninsula consists of several ecoregions. The Southern Korea evergreen forests occupy the southernmost portion of the peninsula, as well as the island of Jeju. The Central Korea deciduous forests occupy the more temperate central portion of the peninsula. The Manchurian mixed forests occupy the northern lowlands and low hills of the peninsula, and extend north into Manchuria as far as the Amur River on the Russia-China border. The Changbai Mountains mixed forests include the higher elevation mountain region along the North Korea-China border, where forests are dominated by conifers, with alpine meadows and rock slopes on the highest peaks.^[2] games

Geology[link]

The terrain of the Korean Peninsula is rumpled, covered with low mountains. Most rocks are of Precambrian origin, although isolated pockets of Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic rock can also be found.

There are no active volcanoes on the peninsula. However, Baekdu Mountain in the north and Hallasan in the south have crater lakes, indicating that they were active not long ago. Furthermore, hot springs indicative of low-level volcanic activity are widespread throughout the peninsula. Roughly two earthquakes are recorded per year, but few have any major impact.

See also[link]

• Korea
• North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)
• South Korea (Republic of Korea)
• List of Korea-related topics
• Geography of North Korea
• Geography of South Korea
• Maps of Korea at the American Geographical Society Library Digital Map Collection

Notes[link]

References[link]

• KOIS (Korea Overseas Information Service) (2003). Handbook of Korea, 11th ed. Seoul: Hollym. ISBN 1-56591-212-8. 
• Lithuanian lake similar to the Korean Peninsula kaibab gordian

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Korean Peninsula

• Location of The Korean Peninsula—The Official Korea Tourism Guide Site

Coordinates: 37°30′N 127°00′E / 37.5°N 127°E / 37.5; 127

Pak Kil-yon (born 1943, Chagang) is a North Korean diplomat. He has served as Permanent Representative to the United Nations since 2001, and also as ambassador to Canada since 2002.

Early life and career[link]

Pak is a graduate of Pyongyang University of International Affairs. He has served in the North Korean diplomatic corps since 1969, when he was Consul to the embassy in Myanmar. He subsequently served in Singapore, and then domestically as the director-general of the American Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thereafter he was named chief representative for the North Korean UN mission in 1985. He subsequently served as ambassador to countries including Colombia and Cambodia, before taking his present post. Pak has been a delegate to the 8th, 9th and 11th sessions of the Supreme People's Assembly. He was awarded the Order of Kim Il-sung in 1992.^[1]

Representative to the United Nations[link]

Pak has been the ambassador to the United Nations for North Korea since 2001. During this time, he has called for the UN to prevent Japan from obtaining a permanent seat on the Security Council.^[2] On May 13, 2005, he met with Joseph DeTrani, a special envoy for the United States, to discuss a North Korean return to the "six-party talks" on North Korean nuclear proliferation. This meeting was the first between US and North Korean officials in six months.

He is known sarcastically by diplomats as 'Dr. Chuckles' because of his rhetoric.^[3] Following the 2006 North Korean nuclear test, Pak made headlines when he said that the United Nations should "congratulate" his country's scientists and researchers on their achievement, instead of issuing what he called "notorious, useless and reckless resolutions."^[4] Following the United Nations Security Council's imposition of sanctions on North Korea, Pak called the Council's actions "gangster-like" and stormed out of the chamber.^[5] This led to then-U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations John R. Bolton replying that that action was the equivalent of Nikita Khrushchev pounding his shoe at the United Nations in 1960.^[6]

See also[link]

• Politics of North Korea

References[link]

Kim Jong-il 김정일
File:Portrait of Kim Jong Il released by state media.jpg
Official portrait
Supreme Leader of North Korea
In office 8 July 1994 – 17 December 2011[1]
Premier	Hong Song-nam Pak Pong-ju Kim Yong-il Choe Yong-rim
Preceded by	Kim Il-sung (as President)
Succeeded by	Kim Jong-un
General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea
In office 8 July 1994 – 17 December 2011 (Eternal General Secretary since 11 April 2012)
Deputy	Kim Yong-nam Choe Yong-rim Jo Myong-rok Ri Yong-ho
Preceded by	Kim Il-sung
Succeeded by	Kim Jong-un (as First Secretary) (Position abolished as Kim Jong-il was declared as the Eternal General Secretary on 11 April 2012.)
Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea
In office 9 April 1993 – 17 December 2011 (Eternal Chairman of the National Defence Commission since 13 April 2012)
Deputy	Jo Myong-rok
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Kim Jong-un (as First Chairman) (Position abolished as Kim Jong-il was declared as the Eternal Chairman on 13 April 2012)
Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army
In office 24 December 1991 – 17 December 2011
Preceded by	Kim Il-sung
Succeeded by	Kim Jong-un[2]
Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party
In office 8 October 1997 – 17 December 2011
Deputy	Kim Jong-un Ri Yong-ho
Preceded by	Kim Il-sung
Succeeded by	Kim Jong-un
Personal details
Born	Yuri Irsenovich Kim (1941-02-16)16 February 1941 Vyatskoye, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (Soviet records) (1942-02-16)16 February 1942 Baekdu Mountain, Japanese Korea (North Korean biography) Disputed, see section Birth.
Died	17 December 2011(2011-12-17) (aged 70) (suspected heart attack) Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Resting place	Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Political party	Workers' Party of Korea
Spouse(s)	Kim Young-sook (1974–2011)
Domestic partner	Song Hye-rim (1968–2002) Ko Young-hee (1977–2004) Kim Ok (2004–2011)
Children	Kim Sul-song Kim Jong-nam Kim Jong-chul Kim Jong-un
Alma mater	Kim Il-sung University
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	North Korea
Service/branch	Korean People's Army
Years of service	1991–2011
Rank	Wonsu (Marshal)
Commands	Supreme Commander

This article contains Korean text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Hangul or Hanja.

Kim Jong-il (born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;^[3] 16 February 1941; official biography claims 1942^[4] – 17 December 2011^[5]) was the supreme leader of North Korea (DPRK) from 1994 to 2011. He succeeded his father and founder of the DPRK Kim Il-sung following the elder Kim's death in 1994. Kim Jong-il was the General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea, and the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, the fourth-largest standing army in the world.

In April 2009, North Korea's constitution was amended to refer to him as the "supreme leader".^[6] He was also referred to as the "Dear Leader", "our Father", and "the General", among others.^[7] His son Kim Jong-un was promoted to a senior position in the ruling Workers' Party and is his successor.^[8] In 2010, he was ranked 31st in Forbes Magazine's List of The World's Most Powerful People.^[9] The North Korean government announced his death on 19 December 2011.^[5]

Following his demise, he was succeeded by his third son Kim Jong-un. He was proclaimed the Eternal General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and Eternal Chairman of the National Defence Commission in 2012. His birthday is a public holiday in the country.

Childhood[link]

Birth[link]

Soviet records show that Kim was born in the village of Vyatskoye, near Khabarovsk, in 1941,^[10] where his father, Kim Il-sung, commanded the 1st Battalion of the Soviet 88th Brigade, made up of Chinese and Korean exiles. Kim Jong-il's mother, Kim Jong-suk, was Kim Il-sung's first wife.

However, Kim Jong-il's official biography^[11] states he was born in a secret military camp on Baekdu Mountain (Korean: 백두산밀영고향집) in Japanese-occupied Korea on 16 February 1942.^[12] Official biographers claim that his birth at Baekdu Mountain was foretold by a swallow, and heralded by the appearance of a double rainbow across the sky over the mountain and a new star in the heavens.^[13]

In 1945, Kim was four years old when World War II ended and Korea regained independence from Japan. His father returned to Pyongyang that September, and in late November Kim returned to Korea via a Soviet ship, landing at Sonbong (선봉군, also Unggi). The family moved into a former Japanese officer's mansion in Pyongyang, with a garden and pool. Kim Jong-il's brother, "Shura" Kim (the first Kim Pyong-il, but known by his Russian nickname), drowned there in 1948. Unconfirmed reports suggest that five-year-old Kim Jong-il might have caused the accident.^[14]

In 1949, his mother died in childbirth.^[15] Unconfirmed reports suggest that his mother might have been shot and left to bleed to death.^[14]

Education[link]

According to his official biography, Kim completed the course of general education between September 1950 and August 1960. He attended Primary School No. 4 and Middle School No. 1 (Namsan Higher Middle School) in Pyongyang.^{[citation needed]} This is contested by foreign academics, who believe he is more likely to have received his early education in the People's Republic of China as a precaution to ensure his safety during the Korean War.^[16]

Throughout his schooling, Kim was involved in politics. He was active in the Children's Union^[17] and the Democratic Youth League (DYL), taking part in study groups of Marxist political theory and other literature. In September 1957 he became vice-chairman of his middle school's DYL branch. He pursued a programme of anti-factionalism and attempted to encourage greater ideological education among his classmates.

Kim is also said to have received English language education at the University of Malta in the early 1970s,^[18] on his infrequent holidays in Malta as guest of Prime Minister Dom Mintoff.^[19]

The elder Kim had meanwhile remarried and had another son, Kim Pyong-il (named after Kim Jong-il's drowned brother). Since 1988, Kim Pyong-il has served in a series of North Korean embassies in Europe and is the North Korean ambassador to Poland. Foreign commentators suspect that Kim Pyong-il was sent to these distant posts by his father in order to avoid a power struggle between his two sons.^[20]

Presidium member and party secretary (1980–1994)[link]

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" (친애하는 지도자, ch'inaehanŭn jidoja)^[21] the government began building a personality cult around 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. Defence 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 that same year.

According to defector Hwang Jang-yop, the North Korean government system became even more centralized and autocratic during the 1980s and 1990s under Kim Jong-il 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.^[22]

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.^[23] 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.^[24]

In 1992, Kim Jong-il's voice was broadcast within North Korea for the first time during a military parade for the KPA's 60th year anniversary in Pyongyang's Kim Il-sung Square, in which Kim Il-sung attended with Kim Jong-il by his side. After Kim Il-sung's speech, and the parade inspection his son approached the microphone at the grandstand in response to the report of the parade inspector and simply said: "Glory to the heroic soldiers of the Korean People's Army!" Everyone in the audience applauded 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[link]

Kim Jong-il on August 24, 2011

On 8 July 1994, Kim Jong-il's father, 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. On 1 January 1995, Kim Jong Il inspected a unit of the Korean People’s Army, which was his first official action as the supreme leader of the DPRK in the first year after the President died. It was also an official act done amid various conjectures on the future of the DPRK and his political direction.^[25] On 10 Oct Kim reviewed a massive military parade and a procession of 1 million people in Pyongyang, marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the country's ruling Workers' Party of Korea in what was his first major public appearance after his father's death.

He officially took the titles of General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea on 8 October 1997 and Chairman of the National Defence Commission on 9 April 1993. In 1998, his Defence 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 was 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 held powers equivalent to a third of a president's powers in most other presidential systems. Kim Jong-il was commander of the armed forces, Choe Yong-rim headed the government and Kim Yong-nam handled foreign relations. In practice, however, Kim Jong-il 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 KPA Supreme Commander and Chairman of the DPRK NDC.^{[citation needed]}

Economic policies[link]

The state-controlled 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.^[26][27][28] This, compounded with only 18% arable land^[29] and an inability to import the goods necessary to sustain industry,^[30] led to an immense famine and 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.^[31] On the national scale, a North Korean spokesman has claimed 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.^[32]

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 — especially compared to the past — there are now remarkable markets that create the semblance of a free market system."^[33]

In 2002, Kim Jong-il declared that "money should be capable of measuring the worth of all commodities."^[34] 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.^[35]

Foreign relations[link]

Kim Jong-il with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2001

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.^[36] However, by March 2007, the Park contained only 21 companies — employing 12,000 North Korean workers.^[37] As of May 2010 the park employs over 40,000 North Korean workers.^[38]

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.^[39] 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 United States under President George W. Bush.^[40] On 9 October 2006, North Korea's Korean Central News Agency announced that it had successfully conducted an underground nuclear test.

Cult of personality[link]

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 Jong-il was 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.^{[41][page needed]} He 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 Hwangab.^[42] Many North Koreans believed that he had the "magical" ability to "control the weather" based on his mood.^[41] In 2010, the North Korean media reported that Kim's distinctive clothing had set worldwide fashion trends.^[43]

One point of view is that Kim Jong Il's cult of personality was solely out of respect for Kim Il-sung or out of fear of punishment for failure to pay homage.^[44] Media and government sources from outside of North Korea generally support this view,^{[45][46][47][48][49]} while North Korean government sources aver it was a genuine hero worship.^[50] The song "No Motherland Without You", sung by the 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.^[51]

Human rights record[link]

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,^[52] and no freedom of the press or religion, political opposition or equal education:^[53] "Virtually every aspect of political, social, and economic life is controlled by the government."

2008 health and waning power rumors[link]

In an August 2008 issue of the Japanese newsweekly Shūkan Gendai, Waseda University professor Toshimitsu Shigemura, an authority on the Korean Peninsula,^[54] 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.^[55] In a subsequent best-selling book, The True Character of Kim Jong-il, Shigemura cited apparently unnamed 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."^[56]

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, United States intelligence agencies believed Kim might be "gravely ill" after having suffered a stroke. He had last been seen in public a month earlier.^[57]

Kim Jong-il as of 2011

A former CIA official said earlier reports of a health crisis were likely 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 United States 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 Nyongbyon 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." 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."^[58] The New York Times reported Kim was "very ill and most likely suffered a stroke a few weeks ago,^[when?] but United States intelligence authorities do not think his death is imminent."^[59] 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",^[60][61] although they did confirm that he had suffered a stroke on 15 August.^[62]

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 claimed Kim had occasionally lost consciousness since April.^[63] 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 United States delay to remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.^[64]

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,^[65] 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.^[66] 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."^[67] 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.^[68] On 19 December 2011 Roux confirmed that Kim suffered a debilitating stroke in 2008 and was treated by himself and other French doctors at Pyongyang's Red Cross Hospital. Roux said Kim suffered few lasting effects.^[69]

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.^{[70][71][72][73][74]} The Times questioned the authenticity of at least one of these photos.^[75]

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."^[76][77] However, South Korea's intelligence agency rejected this report.^[77]

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.^[78] In 2010, documents released by WikiLeaks purportedly attested that Kim suffered from epilepsy.^[79]

According to The Daily Telegraph, Kim was a chain-smoker.^[80]

Successor[link]

Kim's three sons and his brother-in-law, along with O Kuk-ryol, an army general, had been noted as possible successors, but the North Korean government had for a time been wholly silent on this matter.^[81]

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."^[82] 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.^[83]

On 2 June 2009, it was reported that Kim Jong-il's youngest son, Kim Jong-un, was to be North Korea's next leader.^[84] Like his father and grandfather, he has also been given an official sobriquet, The Brilliant Comrade.^[85] Prior to his death, it had been reported that Kim Jong Il was expected to officially designate the son as his successor in 2012. However, there are reports that if leadership passes to one of the sons, Kim Jong Il's brother-in-law, Jang Sung-taek, could attempt to seize power.^{[citation needed]}

Re-election as DPRK leader[link]

On 9 April 2009, Kim was re-elected as chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission,^[86] 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.^[87]

On 28 September 2010, Kim was re-elected as General secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea.

2010 and 2011 foreign visits[link]

Kim with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Sosnovy-Bor Military garrison, Zaigrayevsky District Buriatya on 24 August 2011.

Kim reportedly visited the People's Republic of China in May 2010. He entered the country via his personal train on 3 May, and stayed in a hotel in Dalian.^[88] In May 2010, Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell told South Korean officials that Kim had only three years to live.^[89] Kim travelled to China again in August 2010, this time with his son, fueling speculation that he is ready to hand over power to his son, Kim Jong-un.^[90]

He returned to China again in May 2011, marking the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between China and the DPRK.^[91] In late August 2011, he traveled by train to the Russian Far East to meet with President Dmitry Medvedev for unspecified talks.^[92]

Personal life[link]

Family[link]

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.^[93] He has four known children:

• Kim Jong-nam (son)
• Kim Sul-song (daughter)
• Kim Jong-chul (son)
• Kim Jong-un (son)^[94]

Kim's first mistress, Song Hye-rim, was a star of North Korean films. She was already married to another man and with a child when they met;^[95] Kim is reported to have forced her husband to divorce her. This relationship, started in 1970, was not officially recognized. They had one son, Kim Jong-nam (born 1971) who is Kim Jong-il's eldest son. Kim kept both the relationship and the child a secret (even from his father Kim Il Sung) until Kim ascended to power in 1994.^[95][96] However, after years of estrangement, Song is believed to have died in Moscow in the Central Clinical Hospital in 2002.^[97]

Kim's official wife, Kim Young-sook, was the daughter of a high-ranking military official. His father Kim Il-Sung handpicked her to marry his son.^[93] The two have been estranged for some years. Kim has a daughter from this marriage, Kim Sul-song (born 1974).^[94]

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.^[96][98]

After Ko's death, Kim lived 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 accompanied 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.^[99]

He reportedly had a younger sister, Kim Kyong-hui (김경희).^[100]

Personality[link]

Like his father, Kim had a pteromerhanophobia (fear of flying),^[101] and always traveled by private armored train for state visits to Russia and China. The BBC reported 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.^[102]

Kim Jong-Il in 2001

Kim was said to be a huge film fan, owning a collection of more than 20,000 video tapes and DVDs.^[103] His reported favorite movie franchises included Friday the 13th, Rambo, Godzilla, and Hong Kong action cinema,^[104] and any movie starring Elizabeth Taylor.^[105] 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 were kidnapped in order to build a North Korean film industry.^[106] In 2006 he was involved in the production of the Juche-based movie, Diary of a Girl Student, which depicted the life of a young girl whose parents are scientists, with a KCNA news report stating that Kim "improved its script and guided its production".^[107]

In a 2011 news story, The Sun reported, "Kim Jong-il was obsessed with Elvis Presley. His mansion was crammed with his idol's records and his collection of 20,000 Hollywood movies included Presley's titles — along with Rambo and Godzilla. He even copied the King's Vegas-era look of giant shades, jumpsuits and bouffant hairstyle. It was reported in 2003 that Kim Jong-il had a huge porn film collection."^[108]

Although Kim enjoyed 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.^[109] His former chef Kenji Fujimoto, however, has stated that Kim sometimes sent him around the world to purchase a variety of foreign delicacies.^[110]

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 NBA legend Michael Jordan.^[111] Also an apparent golfer, North Korean state media reports that Kim routinely shot three or four holes-in-one per round.^[112] His official biography also claims that Kim composed six operas and enjoys staging elaborate musicals.^[113] Kim referred to himself as an Internet expert.^[114]

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.^[115] However, psychological evaluations conclude that Kim Jong-il's antisocial features, such as his fearlessness in the face of sanctions and punishment, served to make negotiations extraordinarily difficult.^[116]

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.^[116]

The evaluation found Kim Jong-il appeared 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.^[116] This notion also encourages other cognitive issues, such as self-deception, as subsidiary components to Kim Jong-il's personality.

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 a palace complex northeast of Pyongyang surrounded with multiple fence lines, bunkers and anti-aircraft batteries.^[117]

Finances[link]

According to the Sunday Telegraph, Kim had US$4 billion on deposit in European banks in case he ever needed to flee North Korea. The Sunday Telegraph reported that most of the money was in banks in Luxembourg.^[118]

Death[link]

Kim Jong-il died of a suspected heart attack on 17 December 2011 at 08:30 while travelling by train to an area outside Pyongyang.^[5][119] He was succeeded by his youngest son Kim Jong-un, who was hailed by the Korean Central News Agency as the "Great Successor".^{[120][121][122][123]} The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) report that during his death, a fierce snowstorm paused and the sky glowed red above the sacred Mount Paektu. The ice on a famous lake also cracked so loud, it seemed to shake the Heavens and the Earth.^[124]