North Korea Leadership Watch

Research and Analysis on the DPRK Leadership

Kim Jong Il (1941-2011)

Kim Jong Il

General Secretary, Korean Workers’ Party (KWP)

Chairman, National Defense Commission (NDC)

Supreme Commander and Marshal, Korean People’s Army (KPA)

Member, CC KWP Political Bureau Presidium

Chairman, Party Central Military Committee (CMC)

Member, Party Central Committee (CC KWP)

Director, CC KWP Organization and Guidance Department

Director (Minister) of State Security

Born

Februrary, 1941, Khabarovsk, Siberia, Russia/

February 1942 on Mount Paektu, DPRK

Education

1948-1950: Namsan Kintergarten, Pyongyang

1952-1953: Mangyongdae Revolutionary School, Pyongyang

1953-1954: Samsok People’s School

1954: Pyongyang Fourth People’s School

1954-1957: Pyongyang First Junior Middle School (Chair, Boys’ League)

1957-1960: Namsan Senior Middle School (Chair, Democratic Youth League)

1960: Political Economy Department, Kim Il-sung University (matriculated 1964)

Career

1961: (July) Initiated membership, Korean Workers’ Party

1964: (June) Cadre, Organization and Guidance Department, KWP

1966: Chief cadre, Organization and Guidance Department, KWP

1967: (May) Section Chief, CC KWP Cultural and Art Guidance Section, Propaganda and Agitation Department

1970: Deputy Director, CC KWP Propaganda and Agitation Department

An undated photo of Kim Jong-il when he was in his 20's.

1973: (June) Director, CC KWP Propaganda and Agitation Department

1973: (September) CC KWP Secretary of Organization and Propaganda

1974: (February) Member, CC KWP Political Bureau

1975: (February) Awarded, Hero of the Republic

Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il at the 6th Party Congress in October 1980. (Photo: Foreign Languages Publishing/KCNA)

1980: (October) Member, CC KWP

Member, CC KWP Political Bureau Presidium

Member, Party Central Military Committee

1982: Deputy, 7th SPA

1986: Deputy, 8th SPA

1990: Deputy, 9th SPA

(May) Vice Chairman, National Defense Commission

1991: (December) Supreme Commander, KPA

1992: (April) Marshal, KPA

1993: (April) Elected, Chairman, National Defense Commission

1997: (October) Elected, General Secretary, CC KWP

1998: Deputy. 10th SPA

Re-elected, Chairman, National Defense Commission

2003: (September) Deputy, 11th SPA

Re-elected, Chairman, National Defense Commission

In August 2008, Kim Jong-il had a stroke and recuperated over the subsequent three months.

2009: (April) Deputy, 12th SPA

Re-elected, Chairman, National Defense Commission

2010: Re-elected, General Secretary, CC KWP

Re-elected, Chairman, Party Central Military Committee

2011: (December) Died of a heart attack on a railway coach

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