Kim Jong Il
Leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011
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We include updates on Juche, Team America: World Police, Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, Eternal leaders of North Korea, North Korean cult of personality, Korean Air Flight 858, 1990s North Korean famine, Pulgasari, The Spy Gone North, On-the-spot guidance, Kangdong Residence, How to Become a Tyrant, Vyatskoye, Khabarovsk Krai, Day of the Shining Star, Day of Songun, Nation and Destiny ... and more.
| 2024 |
Pulgasari
Vulture published a retrospective calling Pulgasari 'quite bad as a film' while highlighting its intriguing behind-the-scenes story.
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| July 2024 | South Korea's spy agency reported that Kim had regained weight and was experiencing obesity-related health issues, including high blood pressure and diabetes. North Korean officials were reportedly seeking new medications abroad to treat his conditions. |
| June 2024 | Putin visited Pyongyang for talks with Kim, signing the North Korean–Russian Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, marking Putin's second visit to North Korea since 2000. |
| May 2024 |
Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il portraits
Large portrait of Kim Jong Un displayed at the front of a training school for Workers' Party of Korea cadets, along with portraits of his predecessors in classrooms.
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| February 2024 | Kim received a car as a gift from Putin. |
| December 2023 | During a speech at the 9th plenum of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, Kim called for a 'fundamental turnabout' in North Korea's stance towards South Korea, declaring South Korea as an 'enemy' and rejecting the possibility of reunification. |
| September 2023 | Kim Jong Un made his first foreign trip since 2019, visiting Russia and meeting with Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, expressing strong support for Russia's actions in Ukraine. |
| July 2023 | Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu and a Chinese delegation visited North Korea for the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, with Shoigu meeting Kim Jong Un. |
| March 2023 | During a Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) plenary session, called for boosting agricultural production to address food shortages. |
| 2022 | North Korea approved a new law allowing automatic nuclear strikes in case of an attack on top leadership or nuclear command system, changing its previous nuclear policy. |
| November 18 2022 | Kim Jong Un was seen reviewing key military arsenals with his daughter Ju Ae, marking a public appearance together. |
| September 30 2022 | North Korea recognized Russia's unilateral annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine. |
| August 2022 | Kim Yo Jong indicated that Kim Jong Un had contracted COVID-19. |
| May 2022 | North Korea reports its first confirmed COVID-19 cases, ending Kim's claim of successfully preventing the pandemic. |
| November 2021 | The South Korean National Intelligence Service reported the North Korean government began using the term 'Kimjongunism' to establish an independent ideological system centered on Kim. |
| October 2021 | Kim criticized the US, stating there was no evidence of non-hostile intentions and criticized South Korea for disrupting military balance on the Korean peninsula. |
| June 2021 | After a one-month absence from public appearances, outside observers noted that Kim had lost a significant amount of weight. |
| February 2021 | State media began referring to Kim as 'president of the State Affairs Commission' in English language articles. |
| February 16 2021 | Sin Kyun was awarded the Order of Kim Jong Il. |
| January 2021 | The Ministry of People's Armed Forces was renamed to the Ministry of Defence, part of efforts to present North Korea as a 'normal state'. |
| January 2021 | Kim held the 8th Workers' Party Congress, delivering a nine-hour report admitting economic plan failures and praising North Korea's nuclear capabilities. He was elected General Secretary of the WPK, replacing the WPK Chairman title. |
| 2020 | Received the Jubilee Medal '75 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945' from Russia, awarded for his efforts in preserving the memory of Soviet soldiers who died during the Soviet–Japanese War (1945) and were buried in North Korea |
| September 5 2020 | Kim toured areas hit by Typhoon Maysak, replaced the local provincial party committee chairman, and ordered Pyongyang officials to lead recovery efforts. He also fired Kim Song Il, chairman of the South Hamgyong Province Workers' Party of Korea Committee. |
| August 2020 | Kim ceded a degree of authority to his sister Kim Yo Jong, making her his de facto second-in-command with responsibility for relations with South Korea and the United States. |
| June 17 2020 | North Korea demolished the four-story joint-liaison office building it shared with South Korea. |
| April 2020 | Kim was absent from public view for three weeks, sparking speculation about his health, though no clear evidence of illness emerged. |
| 2019 |
Kumsusan Palace of the Sun
The Kumsusan Guest Palace was constructed, which was later used by Chinese leader Xi Jinping during his visit.
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| 2019 |
Pulgasari
Shin Sang-ok publicly stated in an article that Pulgasari was 'a pure monster film' with no hidden ideological message, contradicting previous interpretations about the film's potential political metaphors.
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| 2019 | President Trump stated that he did not believe Kim Jong Un was responsible for Otto Warmbier's death, contrary to his previous statements. |
| 2019 | Kim became the first North Korean leader to not participate as a candidate in the parliamentary election. The constitution was amended to replace references to Juche and Songun with Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism. |
| October 5 2019 | US and North Korean negotiating teams began talks in Stockholm, which broke down after one day. |
| June 2019 |
1990s North Korean famine
After a UN report of the worst harvests in over a decade affecting 40% of the population, South Korea enacted a plan to provide US$8 million in food aid to North Korea.
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| June 30 2019 | Kim met Trump in the Korean DMZ, shaking hands and meeting briefly with Moon Jae-in. |
| June 20 2019 | Xi Jinping traveled to Pyongyang, marking the first visit by a Chinese leader to North Korea since Hu Jintao in 2005. |
| June 5 2019 |
Pulgasari
Pulgasari opened a film festival (specific festival name not fully specified in the text).
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| April 25 2019 | Kim Jong Un held his first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok. |
| February 2019 | Kim held a summit with Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, which Trump cut short without an agreement due to disagreements over sanctions relief. |
| January 7 2019 | Kim Jong Un met with Xi Jinping in Beijing for further discussions. |
| 2018 |
North Korean cult of personality
Satellite imagery revealed the existence of at least 11,200 outside monuments and murals dedicated to the Kim leaders.
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| 2018 |
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
Jonas Jonasson published a sequel to the original novel, titled 'The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man'.
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| 2018 | Kim Jong Un received delivery of two armored Mercedes-Maybach S600 vehicles, each valued at $500,000, smuggled through an illicit shipping network in violation of international sanctions. |
| 2018 | Forbes magazine ranked Kim Jong Un as the 36th most powerful person in the world, achieving the highest ranking for a Korean. |
| November 2018 |
Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il portraits
First public display of a portrait of Kim Jong Un during a visit by Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel to Pyongyang.
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| September 2018 | Kim held another summit with Moon Jae-in in Pyongyang, agreeing to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons facilities if the US took reciprocal action. |
| July 2018 |
Pulgasari
Pulgasari was screened at the 22nd Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival.
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| June 19 2018 | Kim Jong Un made a third visit to Beijing, meeting with Xi Jinping. |
| June 12 2018 | Kim held his first summit with Trump, signing a declaration affirming commitment to peace, nuclear disarmament, and repatriation of U.S. war dead. |
| June 10 2018 | Kim arrived in Singapore and met with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. |
| May 2018 | Following the inter-Korean summit, a poll of South Koreans showed a dramatic increase in trust towards Kim Jong Un, rising from 10% approval to 78%. |
| May 26 2018 | Kim had an unannounced second meeting with Moon Jae-in in the North Korean side of Panmunjom to discuss his proposed summit with US President Donald Trump. |
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il portraits, Pulgasari, Order of Kim Jong Il, 1990s North Korean famine, Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, Kim Jong Un, North Korean cult of personality & The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (novel), which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.