Category Archives: Kim Jong-il of Pyongyang

By James Robbins Kim Jong-il was one of the world’s most reclusive and enigmatic leaders, presiding over a secretive and internationally isolated country. The world’s only hereditary communist ruler, he was criticised for flagrant human rights abuses and for threatening the stability of the region by pursuing a nuclear weapons programme and testing long-range missiles. When he assumed power after the death of his father, Kim Il-sung, in 1994, very little was known about Kim Jong-il. He had seldom been seen in public. He was said to have personally ordered the shooting down of a South Korean airliner in 1987. The South Korean media portrayed him as a vain man, … Continue reading →