Today in History 07/08 (Kim Jong-il)

Kim Jong-il in July 1994 (© Sipa Press/Rex Features)(1994) North Korea’s dictator dies and his son takes over
After ruling as North Korea’s supreme leader for 46 years, Kim Il-sung dies and his son takes the reins of power in the East Asian nation. Kim Jong-il’s rule will be marked by a pervasive cult of personality, a devastating famine, nuclear arms development, and increasing isolation.
Kim Jong-il was the second Supreme Leader of North Korea, from the death of his father Kim Il-sung, the first Supreme Leader of North Korea, in 1994 until his own death in 2011. He has been considered a dictatorial ruler, and was often accused of human rights violations.
Lived: Feb 16, 1941 – Dec 17, 2011 (age 70)
Height: 5′ 3″
Partner: Kim Ok (2004 – 2011) · Ko Yong-hui (1977 – 2004) · Song Hye-rim (1968 – 2002)
Spouse: Kim Young-sook (m. 1974 – 2011)
Children: Kim Jong-un (Son) · Kim Jong-nam (Son) · Kim Jong-chul (Son) · Kim Sul-song (Daughter) · Kim Yo-jong (Daughter)
Previous offices: Chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea (1997 – 2011) · Supreme Leader of North Korea (1994 – 2011) · Chairman of the State Affairs Commission (1993 – 2011) · Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army (1991 – 2011) · Eternal leaders of Juche Korea (1972 – 1994)
Highlights
  • 1974: Kim Jong-il married Kim Young-sook in 1974.

  • 1992: 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.

  • 1992: He had been named Wonsu (Marshal) in 1992 when North Korean founder Kim Il-sung was promoted to Dae Wonsu.

  • 1994: Kim succeeded his father and founder of the DPRK, Kim Il-sung, following the elder Kim’s death in 1994.

  • 1994: Kim kept both the relationship and the child a secret (even from his father) until he ascended to power in 1994.

  • 2011: It was reported that Kim Jong-il had died of a suspected heart attack on 17 December 2011 at 8:30 a.m. while travelling by train to an area outside Pyongyang.

William Cohen, Jo Myong Rok, Kim Ok (Pentagon in Washington)
Kim Ok, Kim Jong-il’s personal secretary, with U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen, 2000
wiki/Kim_Jong-il
4.12.j18

(1994) North Korea’s dictator dies and his son takes over.
Also on this day,

1497 | Europeans begin their first direct ocean voyage to Asia
In what will be the longest known sea journey of its time, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama pilots an armada of four ships and 170 men out of Lisbon’s harbor south to Africa’s cape and then east towards India, a vast Asian subcontinent on the cusp of global trade and colonization.
1853 | A closed country reluctantly opens for a persistent visitor
Bearing a treaty of trade from US President Fillmore, Commodore Matthew Perry enters Japanese waters, steaming his black ships towards Edo, the capital city of a country closed to the outside world for more than 200 years. This first contact will lead to further “gunboat diplomacy.”
1947 | Papers report a peculiar crash in New Mexico desert
Newspapers report the capture of a “flying saucer” at a ranch near the town of Roswell and question the US military’s story about the crash of a weather balloon. In the 1990s the military will finally reveal that a top-secret nuclear test-monitoring balloon was recovered at the site.

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