North Korea Leader Kim Jong-il Dies, His Life in 59 Photos

by Fauna on Monday, December 19, 2011 43 comments comments

Kim Jong-il waves out a car window.

Currently featured on the home page of popular Chinese online news portal NetEase…

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s Life

The Korean Central News Agency reported on December 19th that North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-il passed away on the 17th.

1982 August 19th, Kim Jong-il and family.

The Korean Central News Agency reported on December 19th that North Korea’s highest leader Kim Jong-il passed away on the 17th. The report said Kim Jong-il was on his way to make local inspections and because of excessive physical and mental fatigue passed away on the train.

1942 February 16th, Kimg Kong Il was born in a secret camp on Baekdu Mountain near the Chinese-Korean border. Left is Kim Jong-il, middle is Kim Il-sung.

Kim Jong-il’s childhood picture as exposed on a French documentary.

Kim Jong-il’s childhood photograph as exposed on a French documentary.

Kim Jong-il’s childhood photo.

Kim Jong-il’s childhood photo as shown in a French documentary.

In this oil painting exhibited at the North Korean Science and Technology Museum, Kim Jong-il and his father are riding horses, and following behind is his mother. When World War II ended and Korea became independent, Kim Jong-il was only 3 years old. In the same year, Kim Jong-il’s entire family moved to Pyongyang.

1950 September to 1960, Kimg Jong Il attended Pyongyang Red Flag Revolutionary Institute and Pyongyang Namsan Higher Middle School.

Group photo of Kim Jong-il (back row, first on right) and classmates in middle school.

1960, Kim Jong-il attended Kim Il-sung University studying political economy.

In 1961 when Kim Jong-il was in his second year at Kim Il-sung University, he accompanied Chairman Kim Il-sung (died 1994) to the Taedok mountain army to provide on-site guidance, sitting in the seat next to him. This is the first time Kim Il-sung and his son provided on-site guidance together.

In 1964 after graduating, Kim Jong-il entered North Korea’s Worker’s Party. He was very quickly appointed Chief of the Guiding Organization Department of the Worker’s Party Central Committee, and then appointed to be the Deputy Minister in 1970.

1986, Kim Jong-il and his father Kim Il-sung.

1964 June to 1974 February, Kim Jong-il successively became Chief, Deputy Minister, Minister, Party Secretary, and Member of the North Korean Worker’s Party Central Committee. Photo is of Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung.

Kim Jong-il and father Kim Il-sung.

Kim Jong-il providing on-site instruction at the King in the Mountain Revolutionary Achievement construction site.

Kim Jong-il supervising the publishing of Kim Il-sung’s writing.

Kim Jong-il supervising the publishing of Chaiman Kim Il-sung’s writing.

1997 January 1st, Kim Jong-il.

From 1980 October on, he successively became a member and party secretary of the North Korean Worker’s Party Central Committee Politburo. From 1982 to 1998, he was selected to be the representative of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly.

Photo is of the book titled “The Great Teacher of Journalists”, the book was published in 1983 by North Korea.

1983 December 23rd, Pyongyang, Kim Jong-il comments on a tapestry of a tiger.

1979 March, Kim Jong-il during an inspection visit to a film shooting location.

1984 October 3rd, Kim Jong-il on an inspection visit.

1994, Kim Jong-il working in his office.

Kim Jong-il addresses the assembled masses.

1988, Kim Jong-il meeting with military representatives in Pyongyang.

Photo of an oil painting featuring Kim Il-sung and Kimg Jong Il.

1991 December 24th, Kim Jong-il appointed Commander in Chief of the North Korean military. 1992, Kim Il-sung formally appoints Kim Jong-il to be in charge of the country’s internal affairs. 1990 December to 1993 April, he successively held the office of the Supreme Commander of the North Korean People’s Army, Vice Chairman and then Chairman of the National Defense Commission. Photo is of Kim Jong-il.

1997 October 8th, Kim Jong-il becomes General Secretary of the North Korean Workers’ Party. In 1998 September and 2003 September respectively he was re-elected as Chairman of the National Defense Commission. Photo is of 1992, during one of Kim Jong-il’s inspection visits of the people.

1999 September, Kim Jong-il during an inspection visit of a farm.

2000 June 13th, North Korea’s National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il (left) and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung together in Pyongyang’s Sunan Airport inspecting the North Korean People’s Army honor guard.

2000 June 13th to 15th, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung visits North Korea and held talks with North Korea’s National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il. This was the first North-South summit meeting since the Korean peninsula was split 55 years ago.

2000 June 15th, after the 3-day summit, Prime Minister Kim Dae-jung (left) and Kim Jong-il shake hands.

2007 October 4th, Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang meeting with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and his wife. October 3rd, the 3-day North-South summit talks officially began.

2000 October 24th, Kim Jong-il and United States Secretary of State Madeline Albright toast during dinner.

2002 September 17th, former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi shake hands at a historic one-day summit.

Kim Jong-il visited China seven times before his death. Photo is of 2010 May 5th, where General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and President Hu Jintao held talks with North Korean Workers’ Party General Secretary and National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

2003 January 11th, to support North Korea’s withdrawal from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, thousands upon thousands of people gathered in Pyongyang’s main square.

2004 November 17th, in a propaganda photo, Kim Jong-il stands in a wheat field during an inspection visit.

2009 March, Kim Jong-il was elected member of the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly. In April of that year, Kim Jong-il was re-elected as Chairman of the National Defense Commission. 2010 September, at a meeting of Workers’ Party of Korea representatives, Kim Jong-il was elected General Secretary. Photo is of 2010 September 9th, when North Korea’s Supreme Leader (first on right) made an appearance at the Workers and Peasants Red Guards parade at Pyongyang’s Kim Il-sung Stadium celebrating the 63rd anniversary of the country’s founding.

2008 November 2nd, Kim Jong-il watching the North Korean’ People’s Army football match.

2010 March 7th, North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il attends a mass rally.

2008 May 6th, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il makes an inspection visit of the North Korean People’s Army 1105 regiment.

Photo of Kim Jong-il.

On this 2009 November 25th photograph, Kim Jong-il visits the Sinuiju shoe factory in Sinuiju northeast of Pyongyang.

2009 October 7th, Kim Jong-il looks at the pork products produced on October 7th at a pig farm. This farm belongs to the 534th regiment of the North Korean People’s Army.

2008 October, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visits a library.

2010 September 9th, North Korean Central News Agency released a photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during a home visit with a new member of the North Korean National Arts Theatre. The North Korean Central News Agency said Kim Jong-il that Friday visited the North Korean National Arts Theatre and the theatre performers’ apartments.

2009 February 15th, official photographs show North Korean officials in Pyongyang celebrating Kim Jong-il’s 67th birthday.

2010 September 28th, in North Korea’s Pyongyang, at the North Korean Workers’ Party representatives meeting. According to the North Korean Central News Agency report on the 29th, the meeting of the North Korean Workers’ Party representatives elected Kim Jong-il’s son Kim Jong-un as Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Kim Jong-il as General Secretary of the North Korean Workers’ Party Central Committee, Politburo standing committee member, Politburo committee member, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Central Committee member.

2010 October 10th local time, North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il and North Korean Workers’ Party Military Commission Vice Chairman Kim Jong-un observe an evening party.

2010 October 10th, North Korean national defense chairman Kim Jong-il and successor Kim Jong-un together on a platform watching a military parade.

2011 September 10th, North Korean National Defense Chairman Kim Jong-il, North Korean Workers’ Party Military Commission Vice Chairman Kim Jong-un visit the Magnolia Audio Company in Pyongyang. Kim Jong-il spoke highly of the company’s workers and engineers for their contributions to the cultural lives of the people. Photo is of Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un talking and laughing during the visit to the Magnolia Audio Company.

2011 August, the special train Kim Jong-il rode arrived after 10am in the morning at the Bureya Railway Station in the Amur Region, and was received by the Russian president’s representative in the Far Eastern Federal District Viktor Ishayev. Photo is of several Russian women wearing traditional dress offering Kim Jong-il the symbolic bread and salt used to welcome honored guests.

2011 December 4th local time, North Korean media announced that Kim Jong-il the 378 unit of the air force.

Kim Jong-il was twice conferred the “Hero of the Republic” title in 1975 and 1982. 1992 April, he gained the Democratic People’s Republic Supreme Commander title. He has also thrice been conferred the Kim Il-sung medal, Kim Il-sung award, and other decorations, medals, and titles. 2011 December 15th local time, in Pyongyang of North Korea, the North Korea new agency published a group photo of Kim Jong-il and the staff of a music center.

Like many of the online news articles about Kim Jong-il and his death on major Chinese news portals and websites, the comments section was closed.

More: Additional updates and translated Chinese netizen comments about Kim Jong-il’s death »

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Sofa
- catweasel84
  
  Thanks for that insight. Any views on North Korea or the Kim dynasty?
  - jiayi
    
    Well I can’t tell you anything about the Kim dynasty but I’m pretty sure I can confirm Jong Il and my grandma shop at the same clothes store. And I swear he has the exact same figure as most Chinese ah yis.
    
    If I didn’t know any better he’d simply be another post menopausal Asian lady trying to make it in the world.
    - Katie K
      
      I can totally picture him on an L.A. Metro bus, dragging one of those rolling carriers filled with groceries, clutching his purse.
andywattbulb

What an ugly mothafucking family. Hope his son will be less of a psychopath. I hope.
pervertt

No Chinese comments?
- barq
  
  comment sections on major Chinese sites were closed for this subject.
TomTuttleFromTacoma

Where are his golfing pictures?
http://www.wtchina.freeforums.org Elijah

1. He wasn’t born in a secret camp, but a regular village.

2. He spent the Korean war attending school in china.

Both these facts could have been googled in less than a minute.

Also, Simpson’s did it!!!

http://wtchina.freeforums.org/ding-dong-fatty-kim-is-dead-t74.html
- anon
  
  Can you please stop spamming your third-rate (if that) echo chamber of a forum? You you have a community of something like 3 active members, including yourself, despite all the spamming you’ve done.
  - http://www.wtchina.freeforums.org Elijah
    
    Cool story bro, tell it again.
anon

I can’t stop laughing at how ridiculous this picture is:

http://img.chinasmack.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/north-korean-leader-kim-jong-il-life-photos-30-560×346.jpg
- Marsvin
  
  It is awesome, like something out of a James Bond movie.
mr. weiner

Good riddence you little ….. what ever it is that you were. I second the wish to see Chinese netizins reactions to this.
- mr. weiner
  
  …Also could someone more motivted than myself find a list of all the things the North Koreans claimed he had done in his distinguished life? [apart from watching porn and stuffing his face with gourmet food]
  - TomTuttleFromTacoma
    
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/8292848/The-Incredible-Kim-Jong-il-and-his-Amazing-Achievements.html
    
    The correct question sir, is what CAN’T he do.
    - mr. weiner
      
      Thank you kindly, but they forgot the one about him inventing the internet.
      
      Even before his birth, the future leader of North Korea was triggering miracles. Official biographers say his birth in a cabin on the slopes of Baekdu Mountain in February 1942 was foretold by a swallow and heralded by a double rainbow. When he was born, a new star appeared in the night sky.
      
      * The first time he picked up a golf club, in 1994, Kim reportedly shot a 38-under par round on North Korea’s only golf course, including 11 holes-in-one. He then decided to retire from the sport for ever.
      
      * Kim has the ability to alter the weather simply through the power of thought.
      
      * The fledgling leader was a genius as an infant, with official North Korean biographies stating that he had learned to walk at just 3 weeks and was talking at 8 weeks.
      
      * As a junior high school pupil in Pyongyang, he corrected and chastised his teachers for their incorrect interpretations of history.
      
      * Kim wrote six full operas in two years, “all of which are better than any in the history of music,” according to his official biography.
      
      * He designed the Tower of the Juche Idea, a 170-metre tower in the east bank of the River Taedong in central Pyongyang that is topped by a glowing red flame.
      
      * Kim’s official biography also claims that he wrote 1,500 books during his time at Kim Sung Il University, from where he graduated in 1964.
      
      * According to the Korea Central News Agency, Kim is an expert on all aspects of the film industry and “improved the scripts and guided the production” of the movie “Diary of a Girl Student.” His favourite movies are reportedly “Friday the 13th,” “Rambo” and anything starring Elizabeth Taylor.
      
      * Kim reportedly employs a servant to inspect every grain of rice that is served to him. Any with the most minor of flaws is discarded.
      - Rick in China
        
        * Kim was asked whether he or Chuck Norris would win in a fight, and he replied: While both of us would obviously leave unscathed, but the world would be destroyed. That is the true unleashing of a WMD.
      - mr. weiner
        
        Brokeback Mountain isn’t a movie, it’s the pile of dead North Korean agents at the front of Chuck Norris’ house.
jiayi

RIP JACKIE CHAN SUPREME LEADER OF NORTH JAPAN

PS That oil painting is simply awful. Hideous workmanship right there.
- jiayi
  
  They honestly might as well be riding a unicorn. That would be an improvement. Atrocious.
  - Katie K
    
    Of course it would be an improvement. A unicorn is always an improvement.
Gay Azn Boi

RIP Dear Leader.
typingfromwork

Fucking loled at the painting with the horses. That is one awkward way of holding up your child.
FREDDY ENG

He’s kind of goofy looking even by Asian standards. He looks Chinee doesn’t he? lol
http://www.matthewsawtell.com Matthew A. Sawtell

{shrug} The article on the US magazine website was more to the point as to his real impact… wooden stand in for Team America
Bt. Jimmy Chen

Lets hope his son is stable for once.
Kim was a faceless dictator who caused over a million people to die because of his economic reforms, etc. The only reason why China supports North Korea is A. it’s now a nuclear superpower
-_- B. North Korea can relay nuclear threats on their behalf. Geez, look at this (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/29/wikileaks-cables-china-reunified-korea)
- stargaterich
  
  The Kim dynasty will thrive so long as Chinese CCP support that regime and it is quite clear that China will continue to do so. It is quite simple to understand why China will continue to be the big brother of this isolated nuclear arm country. North Korea is the northern gateway for China, thus Chinese government will never tolerate any hostile government at its northern border.
  
  So come to think of it, this regime is very lucky because they know they have nothing to worry. China will continue to sustain g and uphold them.
  
  China also do not want to risk refugees crossing over its border in the event of chaos besetting that nation. North Korea will never become what has become of Arab Middle East Spring revolution period!
http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

Kim Jong Il may be deceased but he will live forever on teh internets:
http://www.kimjongillooksatthings.com/category/kim-jong-il-pictures/
- http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir
  
  It’s always about me, or in this case, me-me, as in meme:
  http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sites/kim-jong-il-looking-at-things
DRaY

Kim Jong Il is dead…YaY!!!…Dictators and Terrorist dropping like flies this year…. I mean this prick is gone, Gaddafi, Bin Laden, Steve Jobs…. good riddance.. I can I hope for George Bush to die before the end of the year as well??

AMERICA —FUCK YEAH!!!!!!
Ding Dong Jung

I laugh and laugh seeing all these foolish photos of this old idiot. And there are many more idiots worshiping him. I really have to plan for a party celebrations, who wants to join me?
- DRaY
  
  Maybe they’re crying tears of joy?… FUCK Fatty Kim!!! … Where and when’s the good riddance party?
IDK

Good stuff. Like holding a mirror to the Chinese face.
rollin wit 9′s

Tsingtao Presents Real Men of Stupidity
Today we salute you Mr. Corrupt unmerciful ill-fated dictator

When it comes down to who’s in charge we know to look right at the guy with his feet up eating lobster and his finger on the “nuke em” button.
(Oh no don’t push it!)
That’s right, you put the ‘dick’ in dictator. You make all the dumbest choices a leader could make and are right up there on the worlds greatest assholes list but haven’t quite pissed enough people off for us to take a shot at you.

So crack open an ice cold Tsingtao Mr. oppressor of human rights and freedoms,

because even though the rest of the world seems to be doing ok, you have convinced us lowly citizens that the real place to be is right here under your brainwashing leadership.

Tsingtao Beer, Tsingtao Brewery Co., Shandong Province
- jiayi
  
  Yes, thank Goodness there are no other Communist countries with terrible human rights records, corrupt thugs who control the country, wages so low that most men are basically slaves and a good part of the women are forced to whore themselves, and a generally demoralized and apathetic society. Let this be a lesson to us all.
  - Katie K
    
    But c’mon, that was pretty funny.
Xiongmao

As an atheist I’m actually sad there isn’t a hell for this scumbag to go to. It’s a shame on the collective human civilization that this freak of nature was allowed a quiet natural death. That said, the probably choked on fresh lobsters and Hennesey’s.
Katie K

Why are you reporting that myth about Kim Jong Il’s birth? He was not born on the top of Baekdu Mountain. His birth was not heralded by two rainbows and a new star. He was born in Siberia in 1941. I see no reason for this site to not report the truth.
- lol
  
  This site is only reposting (and translating) what people are posting on chinese forums. They don’t alter any of the content.
http://www.iseastars.org iSeaStars

>Such a Boss.
> I want to find a translation of ” Great Teacher of Journalists”

>good tips Kimmy!
mp

Reuters is reporting that the Pyongyang Traffic Girls are now on high alert. Floating traffic platforms have descended upon most major Pyongyang intersections in an effort to avoid widespread panic. According to Traffic Major Sung Park of the Airborne Traffic Division, her PTG “white socks” traffic warriors are prepared for the worst, including a few stalled cars at major intersections resulting from the usual wintertime gasoline rationing shortages.
tommy

“1942 February 16th, Kimg Kong Il was born in a secret camp on Baekdu Mountain near the Chinese-Korean border. Left is Kim Jong-il, middle is Kim Il-sung.”

noticed the wife was holding her little baby with no smile and his father was raising him to the be the next great leader