Kim Jong-Il Research Paper

Kim Jong-il was the commander of North Korea from his father's death in 1994 to his own death in 2011. This essay will discuss Jong il’s early life, education, dictatorship, later life and death.
Kim Jong-il was born in a small village in Russia called Vyatskoye on February 16, in the year of our Lord 1941. Being born in Russia, his birth name was Yuri Irsenovich Kim. His father commanded the 1st Battalion of the Soviet Union’s 88th Brigade. When World War Two ended in 1945, Korea reclaimed independence from Japan. Since World War Two was over, his father returned to Korea. Jong-il came two months after his father. They went to back to Pyeongchang, moving into a former Japanese officer’s mansion. Unfortunately, Jong-il’s mother died in 1949 …show more content…
Even though he had no public relations prior 1980, he had already been given many high ranking posts in multiple organization all across North Korea. When he was officially announced as successor, he was given the title Dear Leader and the North Korean government started to build propaganda around him being praised as a great and fearless leader who was the successor to the revolutionary cause. He was the second most powerful figure in North Korea, only being inferior to his father. He became so important to the point he was appointed Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army. Eventually, Jong Il's father would even state that he was in charge of all internal affairs and would name him the Chairman of the National Defence …show more content…
Although he had been designated as Il-sung's successor in 1974, it took some time in order to secure his power. On October 8th, 1997, he took over his father’s old job as General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and was reelected Chairman of the National Defence Commision soon after. Unfortunately, Jong-il took absolute control of the government, not listening to his advisors or his country. He was so focused on being in control, he would arrest anyone who tried to advise him due to him thinking that they were saying that he wasn’t making the right choices. In 2004, the North Korean government was reported to have over 200,009 political prisoners with absolutely no freedom. Due to him being economically inept, the whole country was swept into poverty, poor land management, and famine. After years and years of being deprived of resources, food, etc, the North Korean government allowed small trade deals in order to be able to sustain the devastated country. Although Jong-il wasn’t very good at economics, he was known as a very sly, cunning and manipulative diplomat. After South Korea implemented the Sunshine Policy in 1998, (“Allowed South Korean companies to start projects in the North” – Wikipedia) Jong-il officially announced that he would be importing new technologies in order to grow North Korea’s software industry. Because of the policy, the Kaesong Industrial Park was

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