Dec. 28, 2011

The two-day funeral of the late dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, began with a three-hour procession in Pyongyang, the capital. Tens of thousands of North Korean soldiers bowed their heads as a giant portrait of Kim was carried through the streets. Kim Jong-il’s successor and third son, Kim Jong-un, walked beside the flower-draped hearse, one hand on the vehicle and the other raised in salute. Kim Jong-un was followed by his uncle, Chang Song-taek, a senior figure in the North Korea’s leadership who is married to Kim Jong-il’s sister, Kim Kyung-hee, a general in her own right. As the hearse passed, crowds of mourners wailed and threw themselves against soldiers who struggled to keep them from pushing into the street.

Kim Jong-il (left) greets then-President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea in 2000. © AP/Wide World

Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack on December 17. The body laid in state since his death was announced on December 19. A national memorial service was scheduled to take place at noon on December 29.

Kim Jong-il succeeded his father, Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994. Kim Il-sung had, with the support of the Soviet Union, established North Korea as a Communist state in 1948, and he was its first leader.

Although the North Korean public was told the Kim Jong-il died of “physical and mental overwork,” he was known to be extremely fond of French brandy, gourmet food, and movies. He was said to have had a collection of 20,000 films. Under Kim Jong-il’s rule, an estimated 1 million North Koreans starved to death in the 1990′s because of famine. During this period, Kim achieved his greatest ambition, arming the nation with nuclear weapons. North Korea has long maintained one of the world’s largest standing armies–1 million troops–which were fed and maintained at the expense of the rest of the population. North Korea’s chronic food shortages continued in 2011.

Additional World Book articles

Tags: kim jong-il, kim jong-un, north korea