Who Was Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-Il was the hereditary and eccentric ruler of North Korea, the country founded by his father, Kim Il-sung, from the time his father died in 1994 until his own death, which was announced by state media on Dec. 19, 2011. The two Kims have been the only leaders their country has known.

Kim Jong-il, the reclusive dictator who kept North Korea at the edge of starvation and collapse, banished to gulags citizens deemed disloyal and turned the country into a nuclear weapons state, died Saturday morning, according to an announcement by the North's official news media on Monday. He was reported to be 69, and had been in ill health since...

Kim Jong-Il was the hereditary and eccentric ruler of North Korea, the country founded by his father, Kim Il-sung, from the time his father died in 1994 until his own death, which was announced by state media on Dec. 19, 2011. The two Kims have been the only leaders their country has known.

Kim Jong-il, the reclusive dictator who kept North Korea at the edge of starvation and collapse, banished to gulags citizens deemed disloyal and turned the country into a nuclear weapons state, died Saturday morning, according to an announcement by the North's official news media on Monday. He was reported to be 69, and had been in ill health since...