Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il (born February 16, 1941) has ruled North Korea since 1994. He succeeded his father, Kim Il-sung, who had led North Korea since 1948. Formerly styled as the Dear Leader {{ref|Formerly}}. Kim holds the positions of Chairman of the National Defense Committee and General Secretary of the Korean Workers' Party. His birthday is a public holiday in North Korea.

Personal

Before his accession to power, Kim Jong-il was frequently accused of dishonesty, drunkenness, sexual excess of various kinds and even insanity, particularly in the South Korean press. While this is not an uncommon pattern of behavior in the sons of dictators (see Vasily Stalin, Nicu Ceau?escu, Tommy Suharto and Uday and Qusay Hussein), many of these accusations seem to have been fabricated by the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) of South Korea.

Related Topics:
Vasily Stalin - Nicu Ceau?escu - Tommy Suharto - Uday - Qusay Hussein - Korean Central Intelligence Agency

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Some of these stories however come from defectors from the DPRK, and are considered more credible. Kim's former Japanese chef has said in newspaper interviews that Kim has a 10,000-bottle wine cellar, likes blonde Western women, collects Mazda RX-7 sports cars, stages all-night banquets at which attendance and heavy drinking is compulsory for high officials, and has a troupe of strippers for his personal entertainment. According to this account Kim once sent his wife and children on a secret trip to Tokyo Disneyland. Kim is also said to be a film fan, owning a collection of some 20,000 video tapes http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/01/08/wbr.kim.jong.il/. However, this is disputed, as Kim himself has said he rarely watches movies. His partiality for aspects of American culture extends to following National Basketball Association action. Madeleine Albright ended her summit with Kim by presenting him with a basketball signed by Michael Jordan.{{ref|NBA}}

Related Topics:
Mazda RX-7 - Tokyo Disneyland - National Basketball Association - Madeleine Albright - Michael Jordan

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Some of Kim's eccentricities are well documented. He has a profound fear of flying, and has always travelled by private train when going on state visits to Russia and China. He also sometimes wears 10cm (four inches) lifts and platform shoes, some say to disguise his shortness (he is 160 cm, or five foot three inches tall).

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Stories that Kim has had four wives do not appear to be true: he is legally married to Kim Young-suk, a wife reportedly chosen for him by Kim Il-sung, although they have been estranged for some years. He has a daughter, Kim Sul-song (born 1974), by her. He has, however, had a succession of relationships with women. His eldest son, Kim Jong-nam, was born to one of these, Sung Hae-Rim, in 1971. His most recent partner (described sometimes as a mistress, sometimes as a wife) was Ko Young-hee, with whom he had another son, Kim Jong-chul, in 1981, and there is reported to be a second son as well. In August 2004, the Western media reported rumours that Ko had recently died at the age of 51 from cancer. There have been rumours published in the western press that Kim has gone into seclusion and possibly fallen into a deep depression since the death of Ko but this has been denied by North Korea.

Related Topics:
Kim Il-sung - 1974 - Kim Jong-nam - 1971 - Ko Young-hee - Kim Jong-chul - 1981 - 2004

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