Kim Jong Il is the son of the Red Army commander who became the leader of North Korea. Kim Jong-ilKim Jong-il Where was Kim Jong-il born?
Kim Jong Il (eng. Kim Chen Ir) was born on February 16, 1941 (according to the official version - February 16, 1942) in the village of Vyatskoye, Khabarovsk Territory, RSFSR, USSR. Died on December 17, 2011 in the DPRK.
Kim Jong Il is the head of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (since 1994), General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army (1991), Chairman of the Defense Committee of the DPRK (1998).
Kim Jong Il is the son of the “great leader” Kim Il Sung, has the title “Great Leader”; during his father’s lifetime he was called “Beloved Leader”.
Family, childhood and youth
Kim Jong Il's father - Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), "great leader", founder of the North Korean state, the country's main ideologist, who developed the Korean version of Marxism - Juche.
Mother - Kim Jong Suk (1917-1949), second wife of Kim Il Sung, statesman and party leader of North Korea.
Kim Jong-il's brother drowned in a river in 1948, and his half-brother, Kim Pyong-il, currently serves as North Korea's ambassador to Poland.
According to the official biography, Kim Jong Il was born in a partisan camp in a log hut on the highest and most revered mountain in North Korea - Paektusan. At the moment of his birth, a double rainbow and a bright star appeared in the sky. Soviet and Chinese documents confirm that Kim Il Sung was born on the territory of the Soviet Union - in the village of Vyatskoye, Khabarovsk Territory, where the 88th separate rifle brigade of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was located (his father commanded one of the battalions). At birth he was given the name Yuri Irsenovich Kim. He spent his childhood in a military garrison, lost his mother early, and almost never saw his father.
In November 1945, Kim Jong Il was transported to Pyongyang, where his father had returned a month earlier. During the Korean War (1950-1953), he and his family were evacuated to China, where he graduated from elementary school.
Kim Jong Il completed a course of general education at a school for children of party workers in Pyongyang (1953-1960), and received higher education at Kim Il Sung University, specializing in political economy (1960-1964). The work practice of the “son of the prime minister” took place at the Pyongyang plant for the production of weaving equipment, and for the defense of his diploma he chose the topic “The Role and Importance of Weapons in the Construction of Socialism.” According to an unofficial biography, Kim Il Sung also studied at the GDR Air Academy (1960-1962) and studied English at the University of Malta (1970).
The beginning of the way
Kim Jong Il lived and was brought up in relative luxury, not hiding his habits of good cigarettes, films, and books, but his interest in politics arose during his school years. He was an activist in the Children's Union, headed a branch of the Democratic Youth League (DYL) at his school, advocated for strengthening ideological education and organized competitions on knowledge of Marxist theory.
In 1961, Kim Jong-IR joined the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). He worked in the apparatus of the central committee of the WPK as an instructor, head of a sector (since 1964) and in the personal security of Kim Il Sung. On July 8, 1971, North Korea adopted a new calendar, counting from 1912, the year of birth of the “great leader.”
In 1973, Kim Jong Il was elected secretary of the Central Committee of the WPK (he was called the “Center of the Party”), and in 1974 - a member of the political committee (Politburo) of the party, becoming the successor to party chairman Kim Il Sung.
International analysts traditionally associate the actions of Korean terrorists with Kim Jong Il; it is believed that it was Kim Jr. who led the work of the special services (1970-1980). He was accused of organizing a terrorist attack in Burma (1983), which killed 17 high-ranking Korean officials, and of the explosion of a South Korean airliner (1987), which killed 115 people.
At the VI Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, Kim Jong Il was elected a member of the Presidium of the Politburo of the Central Committee, Secretary of the Central Committee, and a member of the Central Military Committee of the party (1980).
Kim Jong Il is a deputy of the seventh, eighth and ninth convocations of the Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. In December 1991, Kim Il Sung announced the transfer of his powers as Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army to Kim Jong Il.
Kim Jong Il - leader of North Korea
"Great Leader Marshal Kim Il Sung", who was in power for 49 years, died in Pyongyang on July 8, 1994. According to the official conclusion, death was due to a heart attack. The country plunged into mourning for three years.
Despite the difficult economic situation and the long-term food crisis that North Korea was experiencing, Kim Jong Il continued the ideology of Juche, “self-reliant socialism.” In general, the meaning of the philosophical term Juche is much broader and more complex; “chu” means “master”, and “che” means “body, essence, nature”; according to Korean-Russian dictionaries, the term is translated as “main part”, “originality”. He managed to consolidate power and, although the post of president of the country was forever assigned to Kim Il Sung, Kim Jr. became general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the National Defense Committee. He assigned the army a leading role in social and political life (“Songun policy”) and somewhat liberalized the country’s economy. There have been positive developments in international relations: an agreement on the “policy of sunshine” was signed with South Korean leader Kim Dae Jung. As part of this agreement, joint ventures were opened in the Kaesong border area, and the development of the Kumgangsan tourist region began (since 1998). Thanks to humanitarian aid from the USA, Japan, and South Korea, the food crisis was overcome. In 2001 and 2002, at the invitation of President V.V. Putin, Kim Jong Il visited Russia. He took a letter train that traveled along the Trans-Siberian Railway from Pyongyang to Moscow.
Even under the “great leader” Kim Il Sung, North Korea began to develop a nuclear program, which, thanks to the efforts of the United States, was mothballed (1994). But at the end of 2002, North Korean representatives announced the resumption of the program, thus North Korea withdrew from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Negotiations between the DPRK, South Korea, Russia, the USA, China and Japan did not lead to the desired result. In 2005, North Korea declared itself a nuclear power and began testing ballistic missiles. On October 9, 2006, international observers recorded the first test of nuclear weapons on the territory of the DPRK.
At the beginning of 2009, North Korea announced its withdrawal from all previously reached peace agreements and its readiness for war with South Korea.
On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the DPRK (2008), rumors appeared about the death of Kim Jong Il: in the Japanese weekly Shukan Gendai, Professor Toshimitsu Shigemura published an article in which he stated that the “great leader” of North Korea died back in 2003. Official Pyongyang immediately denied these rumors, and North Korean intelligence services hastened to announce the prevention of an assassination attempt on Kim Jong Il.
Personal life
Kim Jong Il is not as ascetic in his personal life as his father was. He pays more attention to protocol issues, the formal side of his cult, “prefers black glasses to pink ones,” and likes to distribute caustic characterizations to his subordinates. He owns many works: “On the Juche Ideas”, “On Some Issues that Arise in the Study of Juche Philosophy”, “On the Art of Cinematography”, “On Literature Based on the Juche Principle”, etc. “The Great Leader” is a passionate admirer of cinema, he More than one film script has been written about the life of his father. He took an active part in the filming of films promoting the Juche ideology. It is generally accepted that Kim Jong Il is a great composer and architect.
Kim Jong Irud is worthy of the title of Hero of the DPRK, awarded the Order of Kim Il Sung three times, as well as 89 orders and medals from 29 countries. He is an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In North Korea, he is called “father of the people”, “bright star of the pariah”, “bright sun of Juche”, “iron all-conquering commander”, etc.
Family status
Kim Jong Il married several times. He has three sons: Kim Jong Nam, Kim Jong Chol and Kim Jong Un, whom he announced as his successor (May 28, 2009).
Death
Kim Jong Il died on December 17, 2011 in his armored train during an inspection tour of the country. The official version is “excessive mental and physical fatigue caused by continuous inspection tours around the country in the interests of building a prosperous state.” His youngest son, Kim Jong-un, became his successor.
The leader of the DPRK in 1994-2011, Kim Jong Il, was born, according to North Korean historiography, on February 16, 1942 in a partisan camp on Mount Paektusan in Samjien County in northern Korea.
According to unofficial sources, Kim Jong Il was born on February 16, 1941 in the village of Vyatskoye, Khabarovsk Territory, where the 88th separate brigade of the Soviet army was located, the battalion of which was commanded by his father, the future President of the DPRK Kim Il Sung. At birth, Kim Jong Il was recorded as Yuri Irsenovich Kim. The Kim Il Sung family returned to Korea in the fall of 1945.
According to the official biography, in 1950-1960, Kim Jong Il received a complete secondary education at a school in Pyongyang. According to some researchers, in 1950-1953, during the Korean War, he was in China, where he studied in elementary school.
In 1964, he graduated from the Department of Political Economy, Faculty of Economics, Pyongyang Kim Il Sung State University.
In 1961, Kim Jong Il joined the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).
From June 1964 to September 1973, he worked in the apparatus of the central committee of the TPK, first as an instructor, then as a sector head, deputy department head, and department head. At the same time he directed the cinema of the DPRK.
In September 1973, Kim Jong Il was elected Secretary of the Party Central Committee, and in 1974 - a member of the Political Committee (Politburo) of the WPK Central Committee. His powers included propaganda and agitation, in particular control over the media. He also oversaw art, culture and cinema. Kim
Chen Il took part in planning work in several sectors of the economy. From that time on, his status as Kim Il Sung's successor was established.
In 1980, Kim Jong Il was a member of the Presidium of the Politburo of the WPK Central Committee, Secretary of the Central Committee, and a member of the Party's Central Military Committee.
From February 1982 to September 2003, Kim Jong Il was a deputy of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) of the DPRK of the 7th-11th convocations.
In December 1991, he became the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army. In April 1992, he was awarded the rank of marshal.
In 1993, Kim Jong Il headed the DPRK Defense Committee. The powers of the head of this committee provide for the management of all political, military, and economic resources of the country.
After the death of Kim Il Sung in July 1994, at a closed plenum of the Central Committee of the WPK, it was decided to transfer all power in the country to Kim Jong Il. He was elected to the post of General Secretary of the WPK in 1997, after the end of three years of mourning.
Kim Jong Il did not take up the post of president of the DPRK, declaring his father “eternal president.”
In 1998, 2003 and 2009, he was re-elected chairman of the DPRK Defense Committee.
On September 28, 2010, at the first party conference since 1966, Kim Jong Il was again the general secretary of the country's ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).
The leader of the DPRK rarely spoke, usually only to the military. Until 2000, he did not travel abroad and did not hold meetings with heads of foreign states. He made his first, unofficial, visit on May 29-31, 2000 to China.
Three times, in 2001, 2002 and 2011. The first official visit at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin lasted 24 days, from July 26 to August 18, 2001. Kim Jong Il spent most of his visit on a train crossing Russia along the Trans-Siberian Railway. During his last visit to Russia, Kim Jong Il visited the Amur region, then arrived in Buryatia, where he met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in a closed military town.
The leader of the DPRK died on December 17, 2011, but the media reported this only on December 19. According to the Korean Central News Agency, Kim Jong Il died on a train while traveling around the country from overwork. As foreign media reported, the North Korean leader suffered from diabetes and heart problems.
Kim Jong Il was , the former presidential palace in Pyongyang, where his father Kim Il Sung rests.
- four times hero of the DPRK (1975, 1982, 1992, 2012 - posthumously), was awarded many orders and medals of the DPRK, including three orders of Kim Il Sung, had a large number of awards and titles from around the world.
There is no open information about Kim Jong Il’s family and children. Media reported that the North Korean leader has three sons and two daughters.
After the death of Kim Jong Il, the “Great Heir” of the late leader of the DPRK was officially
Kim Jong Il is the ex-leader of North Korea, awarded after his death the highest military title of Generalissimo, four times Hero of the country, son of the founder of the state, Kim Il Sung.The leader of the state was called such epithets as Father of the People, Iron Commander, Center of the Nation. His birthday, by decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Labor Party, became a national holiday - the Day of the Shining Star.
Kim Jong Il has repeatedly taken first place in the anti-rating of the world's worst dictators, created annually by the American Parade magazine based on information from human rights organizations. This happened, among other things, due to the fact that he chose nuclear blackmail as one of the central instruments of the republic’s foreign policy.
Childhood and family of Kim Jong Il
The future “Great Leader” of the Juche country was born on February 16, 1942 in a partisan camp located in the vicinity of the divine volcano-Mount Paektusan, where, according to legend, lived King Tangun, the founder of Korea, born of a bear woman from the son of God Hwanin. At the moment of the appearance of the future beloved leader, a star seemed to shine in the sky, and a rare miracle of nature appeared - a double rainbow. 
According to a less poetic and more plausible version, Kim Jong Il was born a year earlier in the village of Vyatskoye, located on the Amur River not far from Khabarovsk. There, his father Kim Il Sung served in the Red Army, commanding a rifle battalion with the rank of captain. After World War II, he returned to the capital Pyongyang, and his wife and son, who was originally allegedly named Yuri Irsenovich, also moved there. The relationship between the parents was not very smooth; the wife had a hot temper, which her son inherited.
The death of his mother in 1949 during childbirth was a great shock for the 7-year-old boy. He was subsequently taken care of by Ho Den Suk, who served as the Minister of Education at that time. He respected and loved her very much, just like Kim Kyung Hee, his younger sister. He actually hated his stepmother, Kim So Ae, his father's new wife. He also did not have friendly relations with his two half-brothers and sister who appeared later.
According to official sources, Kim studied in Pyongyang - first at the Namsan Secondary Educational Institution for the children of party workers, then at a university, at the Faculty of Political Economy. According to unofficial information, the son of the leader, declared the “Eternal President,” studied in the PRC, where he was taken during the armed conflict between the two Korean states of 1950-1953.
Political career of Kim Jong Il
The work of the future leader of the nation began in the seventies. At first he worked as an instructor of the Central Committee, and later as a member of the Politburo. In the 1980s, Kim Jong Il became a deputy of the main legislative body - the Supreme People's Assembly. The scope of his powers included directing the work of domestic intelligence services. 
International experts called him involved in operations to eliminate Korean dissidents abroad and in terrorist acts. In particular, he was accused of organizing the explosion of a South Korean passenger plane in November 1989. This tragedy claimed 115 lives.
The father began to prepare his son in advance to be his successor as head of state. Along with glorifying his father's deeds, propaganda also praised the superhuman greatness and wisdom of Kim Jr. In 1991, Chen Il was appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief, a year later - Marshal, then - head of the Defense Committee.
Kim Jong Il inspects toothbrush production
In 1994, when Kim Il Sung died, at a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party, a resolution was approved to transfer unlimited power to his son. Having officially acquired the honorary title of “Great Leader,” Kim Jong Il oversaw all the main areas of the state’s activities - branches of economic activity, geopolitical strategy, the nature of nuclear research, culture, etc. In 1997, he was elected Secretary General of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).
Personal life of Kim Jong Il
The “great commander” was married four times and had 3 sons who were trained in Switzerland. Although some sources claim that the head of state allegedly had 17 children. 
Jong Il's first wife was film actress Song Hye Rim. At the time their relationship began, the girl was already married, which the young man’s father did not like. She divorced and married Jong Il, and gave birth to his first child, Kim Jong Nam, in 1971. But under pressure from Kim Il Sung, the couple had to separate. Song Hye Rim went abroad, and her husband took care of her maintenance. She died in Moscow in 2002.
The eldest son was considered a possible heir to his father's business. But these plans were prevented from being realized in 2001 by an incident at Tokyo airport. Then local police detained the 30-year-old son of the head of the DPRK, who was trying to cross the border using a false passport. He later moved to Macau and did not maintain friendly relations with his father.
The number two wife of the “Sun of the Nation” was Kim Yong Sook from the family of a high-ranking official. In 1974, they gave birth to a girl, Kim Sol Song, who in adulthood worked as her father’s secretary. It was this wife that Kim Il Sung chose for his son. It is believed that only with her Chen Il was officially signed, although it is difficult to say whether this is true or not. The relationship between the spouses was far from loving, and the head of state loved the company of beautiful women.
The leader's third chosen one was Kim Yong Hee. She was a native of Japan, studied dancing and ballet, and passed away in 2004 in Paris due to a car accident or, according to the media, from oncology. The married couple first had a son, Kim Jong Chol (born in 1981), who showed absolutely no interest in a political career and subsequently lived in the PRC. A year (or two) later - Kim Jong-un, the youngest heir, proclaimed “The Greatest Follower”.
The fourth wife of the “Wise Leader” was Kim Ok. She is a piano graduate of Pyongyang University, a former business manager for her husband and the WPK Arts Committee.
Kim Jong Il was interested in cars, football, fishing, hunting, reading, and music. He had a weakness for smoking cigars and cognac.
The last years of life and death of Kim Jong Il
During the reign of Kim Jr., the republic has become somewhat less isolated than during his father's reign. However, in 1995-1999. There was a famine in the DPRK, caused both by ineffective government policies, unfavorable weather conditions for agriculture, and a sharp reduction in food aid from outside.Kim Jong Il's visit to Moscow
In 2010, the “Leader of the 21st Century” was re-elected for another term as Secretary General of the ruling party. The practice of deifying a follower of the ideas of the “Great Leader” (as Kim Il Sung was called) continued in the republic. Devoted citizens erected monuments to him, sang his praises in poetry, studied his literary works and biography, and considered him an outstanding composer and architect, in particular, who created the plan for the Juche Monument.
Kim Jong Il rarely traveled abroad, did not like to fly, and made visits to the PRC and the Russian Federation on a personal armored train. He made his last trip to Russia in the summer of 2011, where he spoke with Dmitry Medvedev.
The head of North Korea passed away at the end of the same year in his armored train, while inspecting key, socially significant facilities. The cause of death was officially recognized as a heart attack. Some media outlets, citing their own sources, reported that it happened due to the strong anger of the leader, who learned about serious problems at the new hydroelectric power station in the Huichon area.
As reported by the central telegraph agency of North Korea, on the day of the death of the “Father of the People” on the “heavenly lake” of Cheongji, located in the crater of Mount Paektusan, the ice cracked with a terrible roar, and mysterious and inexplicable glows were observed at the top through the snowstorm.
Mass hysteria in North Korea after the death of Kim Jong-Il
The body of the head of state was embalmed and placed next to the body of his father in the Kumsusan Memorial Palace. His post was taken by his youngest son, Kim Jong-un.
Kim Chen In- North Korean Supreme Leader, leader of the party, army and people of the DPRK, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), first chairman of the State Defense Committee of the DPRK. Kim Jong-un - Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Korean People's Army, Marshal of the DPRK, Deputy of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK.
Kim Jong-un's childhood and education
It is believed that the biography of Kim Jong-un is shrouded in mystery. From publicly available official materials it is known that Kim Jong-un was born on January 8, 1982 in Pyongyang. But there are other opinions. For example, intelligence sources report that the Korean leader was born no earlier than 1984. Kim Jong Un's Wikipedia biography states that "discrepancies in the date of birth are explained by the leader's desire to look older" and that North Korean officials initially claimed that Kim Jong Un was born on January 8, 1983.
Father - Kim Jong Il(1941−2011) - former head of North Korea (1994−2011).
Mother - Korean ballerina Ko Young Hee- favorite of Kim Jong Il.
Grandfather - Kim Il Sung(1912−1994) - founder of the North Korean state and its first de facto leader (1948−1994).
Kim Jong Un is said to have been educated at home and does not have a diploma. Although South Korean intelligence services reported that Kim Jong-un studied at the Swiss international school in Bern under the name Eun Park. However, now the school management denies this fact. Then, from 2002, Kim Jong-un individually studied at the Kim Il Sung University and the Kim Il Sung Military University in the DPRK.
In 2013, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was awarded an honorary doctorate in economics from HELP University, a private Malaysian educational institution.
Political career of Kim Jong-un
People started talking about Kim Jong-un when rumors appeared about the fatal illness of his father, Kim Jong-il. The mother was able to convince the leadership of the republic that Kim Jong-un is Jong Il’s beloved son and should be his only successor.
During the lifetime of his father, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong-un received the title “Brilliant Comrade” and was appointed head of the North Korean State Security Service.
On December 17, 2011, Kim Jong Il died of a heart attack, and on December 24, in the central printed organ of the WPK, the Nodong Sinmun newspaper, Kim Jong Un was first named Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Korean People's Army. But Kim Jong-un appeared before the people of Korea in 2012 during a parade dedicated to the centenary of his grandfather Kim Il Sung. And in the same year, Kim Jong-un was recognized as Person of the Year (2012).
Despite the sanctions that constantly haunt North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong-un was ranked first among millennials (young people born between 1981 and 2000) by The Guardian.
Foreign Policy of Kim Jong-un
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ensured that North Korea entered the club of space powers. Kim Jong-un was not concerned that his country thereby violated two UN Security Council resolutions (2006 and 2009). Of course, this caused outrage in the international community. And when the DPRK successfully conducted the third nuclear test in its history in February 2013, the indignation of the Western powers and the United States reached its climax. North Korea has been declared a "world evil". Sanctions rained down on her from all sides, which became tougher every year.
On July 4, 2017, North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile towards the Sea of Japan. The flight lasted 40 minutes, the rocket crashed in Japan's exclusive economic zone. It was noted that the rocket managed to rise significantly above the 2.5 km mark. Secretary General of the Government of Japan Yoshihide Suga called the missile launch from North Korea a provocation that violates UN Security Council resolutions.
Kim Jong-un said that the Hwangsong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is capable of carrying a large and heavy nuclear warhead.
The head of the White House commented on the new missile launch of Kim Jong-un Donald Trump, emphasizing that the United States, as well as countries in this region, will no longer tolerate North Korea’s tests.
Kim Jong-un was not afraid, but on the contrary, he himself began to threaten a possible preventive nuclear strike on the United States. Then the DPRK followed with the annulment of the non-aggression treaty with South Korea, which was signed in 1953. However, at the Seventh Congress of the Workers' Party, Kim Jong-un said that North Korea would use nuclear weapons only as a means of defense.
Earlier, at a meeting of the UN Security Council, Russia and China made a proposal according to which Pyongyang should stop testing its ballistic missiles, and other countries should not conduct military exercises off the coast of the DPRK. But Kim Jong Un instructed his scientists to continue working on ballistic missiles and said Pyongyang intends to continue testing them until “the United States and its vassals make the right choice.”
On September 3, North Korea conducted another nuclear test. This happened just a few hours after Pyongyang announced the creation of a hydrogen bomb. The South Korean General Staff estimated the power of the explosion at 100 kilotons, and the Japanese authorities at 70 kilotons. According to various sources, the explosion caused an earthquake measuring from 5.7 to 6.3 on the Richter scale (previous tests caused a maximum of 5.3).
After the incident, American President Donald Trump said that he was ready to use nuclear weapons to defend his country.
A possible conflict between North Korea and the United States became an important news trend in 2017. Donald Trump spent the whole year practicing insults for Kim Jong-un, calling him a madman with nuclear weapons, a “short guy with a missile” and a psycho. In September, Trump coined a new nickname for Kim Jong Un, calling him "Rocket Man." A little later, Kim Jong-un said that the United States would pay dearly for the speech of its president. He also called Trump's remarks "eccentric expressions" that insult him and his country. “Why did Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me “old,” but I never call him “small and fat.” Well, I'm trying hard to remain his friend - and maybe someday it will happen!” Trump tweeted in response.
At the same time, in August, Donald Trump positively assessed Kim Jong-un’s decision to refrain from launching missiles into the area of the island of Guam, which is under US jurisdiction. “Kim Jong-un of North Korea made a very smart and balanced decision,” Trump said. “The alternative would be catastrophic and unacceptable!”
Free Press reported that the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov compared the behavior of the leaders of the United States and North Korea to a conflict between children in kindergarten.
Kim Jong-un's domestic economic policy
Having become the head of state, Kim Jong-un not only threatens the United States and the world with nuclear war, but also tries to carry out economic reforms.
Agrarian reform was one of the first to be carried out. Kim Jong-un introduced the so-called “link” row. The “small link” - this is one family and two families living nearby - received land for cultivation, and a significant part of the resulting harvest remained for the “link” itself. This reform led to a record grain harvest already in the first year of its implementation (2013).
In industry, state-owned enterprises were actually transferred to self-financing.
Kim Jong-un's actions were seen to be more loyal to private business. A network of special economic zones was created to attract foreign investment. But in connection with the application of sanctions to the DPRK, Kim Jong-un began to pay more attention to the development of national production.
In photographs appearing in the press, Kim Jong-un can often be seen at North Korean defense factories and at missile tests, but he also periodically visits various enterprises producing civilian products. The world media published a photo of Kim Jong-un's visit to the perfume factory. The DPRK is actively developing its own perfume industry and creating its own brands, such as “Bomhyanggi” and “Unhasu”.
Information technology has begun to spread rapidly in North Korea. So in 2014, China imported smartphones and mobile phones worth 82 million 840 thousand dollars.
In 2013, the news reported that North Korean engineers had developed their own smartphone, Arirang. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was pleased with the work of the scientists: he appreciated the lightness, appearance and functions of the smartphone, high-quality display and megapixel camera.
Personal life, hobbies and health of Kim Jong-un
North Korean news and state television reported on July 25, 2012 that Kim Jong-un was married. Photos of Kim Jong-un and his wife appeared in the media a few weeks earlier. His wife - Lee Seol-ju- graduate of the University. Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang. Kim Jong-un's wife's father is a teacher, and her mother is a doctor. It is believed that Kim Jong-un got married in 2009.
News also reported that the North Korean leader has two children. The biography of Kim Jong-un on Wikipedia states that the first child was born in the fall-winter of 2010 or winter of 2011, the second at the end of December 2012.
Kim Jong-un is fond of basketball and loves pop culture. As the Daily Mail reported, Kim Jong-un is a big fan of the English football club Manchester United.
On the health front, back in 2009, it was reported in the news that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un suffered from diabetes and hypertension. However, he is a heavy smoker.
Photos of Kim Jong-un from public events were not published in September and October 2014, and DPRK state media news reported that he was suffering from an “uncomfortable physical condition.” When Kim Jong-un appeared in public again, the DPRK leader could be seen in the photo leaning on a cane.
In 2015, Kim Jong-un began to weigh 130 kg, having gained about 30 kg in 5 years.
At the same time, in April 2015, the country's official information bureau distributed a photo in which Kim Jong-un stands on the top of Mount Paektusan in a fairly light coat and shoes. Internet users, followed by Western media, laughed at the North Korean leader, who conquered the most difficult peak in North Korea without serious equipment, RIA Novosti reported.
In the summer of 2017, American doctors came to the conclusion that the head of the DPRK, Kim Jong-un, was taking steroids, which later caused him to become aggressive. Doctor Rock Positano from the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York noted that according to their data, Kim Jong-un suffers from gout, the news said.
Scandals with Kim Jong-un
Kim Jong-un has been repeatedly accused of brutally persecuting rivals in the struggle for power. In December 2013, the 67-year-old Jang Song Taek, the politician’s uncle, who for a long time headed the “regency council” under the young Kim Jong-un and was considered the “second man” in the state, was executed by court verdict for attempting to overthrow the government. Later it became known that the wife of the executed Kim Kyung Hee, is in a coma - the woman underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor. It was reported that she could have died of a heart attack or committed suicide.
Almost all the relatives of Jang Song Tek, the executed uncle of the DPRK leader, were sentenced to capital punishment, the Yonhap news agency (South Korea) reported.
The news also reported that about a dozen popular artists in the country were shot in North Korea. All of them were found guilty of producing and distributing pornography. One of the victims was a singer Hyun Sung Wol, considered a former girlfriend of the North Korean leader, with whom Kim Jong-un broke up about 10 years ago at the insistence of Kim Jong-il's father.
According to a deputy from the ruling Saenuri Party of South Korea, on the orders of the DPRK leader, four musicians of the national orchestra "Unhasu" were executed; they were accused of espionage for issuing information about the life of Kim Jong-un's family.
However, news from South Korea about the executions of Kim Jong-un is not always confirmed. On May 13, 2015, a number of media reported, citing the South Korean news agency Kyodo, that the Minister of the Armed Forces was shot in North Korea for falling asleep at an important military event. But the minister Hyun Young-chul appeared on television after the news of his execution.
But Kim Jong-un’s half-brother, 45, will no longer appear on air Kim Jong Nam, who was killed on February 14, 2017 with VX while walking through Terminal 2 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. He was also reported to have been attacked by two women with “poisoned needles.” Foreign news, citing the police, reported that the DPRK authorities were involved in the death.
According to KCNA, in May 2017, a group of terrorists who infiltrated the DPRK on orders from the US CIA and South Korean intelligence with the aim of committing a terrorist attack against Kim Jong-un was discovered and captured.
According to The Korea Times, in 2014, North Korean men were required to sport a hairstyle like Kim Jong Un's, whereas previously they could choose from 10 types of state-approved men's hairstyles. Kim Jong-un also banned officials from smoking foreign cigarettes.
The entire biography of Kim Jong-un has not been officially confirmed. The reign of Kim Jong-un is marked by the continued development of missile and nuclear weapons, economic reforms, and deterioration of relations with South Korea and Western countries.
On Monday morning, North Korea's state television reported the death of the country's ruler, Kim Jong Il, who died two days earlier - on December 17 - of a heart attack on his armored train en route from Pyongyang. The 69-year-old supreme leader has ruled North Korea since 1994, succeeding his father Kim Il Sung, the founder of the communist state. Kim Jong Il presided over a country isolated from the rest of the world, despised the West, denied himself nothing while his compatriots starved, and spent unprecedented amounts of money from the state treasury on military needs and the purchase of nuclear weapons. His successor, his son Kim Jong-un, is not ready to rule, and the country finds itself in a power vacuum with neighbors, allies and enemies on both sides. This post contains photos from the life of Kim Chem Il and photos of the country that found itself without a leader.
(Total 36 photos)
1. Kim Jong Il greets the people at a military parade during the 90th anniversary of Kim Il Sung and the 70th anniversary of the North Korean People's Army on April 25, 2002. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Images)
2. Young Kim Chem Il (left) as a child with his parents - mother Kim Yong Suk and Kim Il Sung. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service)
3. Kim Jong Il (left) with leader Kim Il Sung and his sister Kim Keng Hui. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Images)
4. Kim Jong Il communicates with peasants on May 21, 1971. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Images)
5. Kim Jong Il in his office. (AFP/Getty Images)
6. Kim Jong Il checks a plane at an amusement park in Pyongyang on October 2, 1977. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Images)
7. Kim Jong Il conducts shooting training for members of the 2nd National Defense Sports Team. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Images)
8. Kim Jong Il gives advice during the filming of a documentary in March 1979. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Images)
9. Kim Il Sung (right) and Kim Jong Il (center) look at a miniature of one of the streets of Pyongyang in January 1988. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Images)
10. Kim Jong Il applauds at the Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in 1980. (AP Photo/APTN)
11. Leader Kim Il Sung with his son Kim Jong Il at the football stadium in Pyongyang in 1989. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Images)
12. A boy places a scarf on North Korean leader Kim Jong Il during a visit to a military school in Pyongyang on January 1, 1997. (AP Photo/Korean News Service)
13. Russian President Vladimir Putin with Kim Jong Il at a meeting in Moscow on August 4, 2001. (AP Photo/ITAR-TASS/Presidential Press Service)
14. Kim Jong Il at a plastic products factory for disabled soldiers on December 3, 2010. (KNS/AFP/Getty Images)
15. Former US President Bill Clinton and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang on August 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service)
16. Kim Jong Il listens to a song performed by relatives of an artist who has just moved into a new apartment in Pyongyang, October 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service)
17. Cards turn over at the stadium in the form of the national flag during the May holidays in Pyongyang on August 24, 2011. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
18. Kim Jong Il (right) looks at his son Kim Jong Eul at a military parade in honor of the 65th anniversary of the rule of the Communist Workers' Party on October 10, 2010. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)
19. One of the last photos of Kim Jong Il. Meeting with Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang in Pyongyang on October 24. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Yao Dawei)
20. Kim Jong-un (left) - son of Kim Jong Il during a visit to the Mokran video company in Pyongyang on September 11, 2011. (Reuters/KCNA)
21. The presenter, unable to hold back her tears in mourning, announces the death of the country's leader Kim Jong Il on December 19, 2011. (Reuters/KRT via Reuters TV)
22. Residents of South Korea read newspaper reports about the death of Kim Jong Il in Seoul on December 19. Headline: "Death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
23. Residents of Pyongyang mourn the death of their leader. (Reuters/Kyodo)
24. North Korean youth cry over the death of their leader in Pyongyang. (Reuters/Kyodo)
25. Residents of Pyongyang gathered in front of a statue of former North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, mourning the death of his son Kim Jong Il. (Reuters/Kyodo)
26. Residents of Pyongyang are unable to stand on their feet from pain and sadness from the loss of the country's leader. (Reuters/Kyodo)
27. A crying girl on the day the death of the North Korean leader was announced. (Reuters/KCNA via Reuters TV)30. A South Korean resident gestures to a photo of the late North Korean leader in Seoul. (Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon)33. A waitress at a restaurant with photo wallpaper with nature motifs in Pyongyang on December 8. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)36. Purple skies over the 105-story unfinished Ryugyong Hotel building in Pyongyang on October 24. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)