North Korea - Kim Jong Il
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|  orth Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il rules uncontested, uncontrolled and without mercy. Since 1994, when he took command of the country from his father, Kim Il Sung, the details of his life have been closely guarded, and in some cases made up by the communist propaganda machine he controls. Born in Siberia in 1941, official government documents publicize his birth as occurring in 1942, atop Mt. Paiktu, where his father had a guerilla base, while a double rainbow and shining star graced the sky. According to the BBC, the "dear leader" makes few public appearances and it is believed that before his June 2000 trip to Beijing, he had not left North Korea since sometime in the 1980s. His interests are varied and somewhat surprising for a homicidal dictator; he is rumored to have written six operas in 2 years, and it is believed he personally designed the Juche tower located in Pyongyang and dedicated to his father's philosophy. The perception of Kim in some circles is that of a playboy who wears lifts in his shoes to compensate for his lack of height. Once known as a drinker, health problems have forced him to give up liquor and rumors of his guards kidnapping Japanese women to serve as his companions on luxury vacations fuel speculation he is a womanizer. Most importantly though, Kim is a dictator who has knowingly allowed or ordered the deaths of thousands of citizens, remains a suspect in the 1983 Rangoon bombing that killed South Korean Cabinet Ministers and is a suspect in the 1987 bombing of a South Korean airline. His nuclear weapons program is a source of widespread international concern, and the gulags or "education through labor" camps have caused the deaths of thousands, torn apart families, and ruined countless lives.
"When he's happy he can treat you really, really well. But when he's angry he can make every window in the house shake. He has a personality of extremes, all colliding within the same mind," Sung Hae Rang told Time Asia. The sister of Kim's mistress (possibly his wife), and the aunt of his child, Sung lived with the dictator, her sister and the rest of their family from 1971 up until her defection to Europe in 1996. Kim and Sung's sister, the actress Sung Hae Rim, had a child together, Kim Jong Nam. The relationship between Kim and Sung Hae Rim is mysterious, as no one knows for sure if they ever officially married. Years into that relationship, Kim began seeing other women, but never brought any of his mistresses out in public. His sister fulfilled the role of First Lady. "I know of peple who died because he abandoned them. Losing ...favor meant the end of one's career and sometimes life," she told Time Asia.
Kim began his political career in 1971 when he joined the Korean Worker's Party (KWP). He quickly ascended through the ranks, becoming party secretary in 1973 and entering the Politburo in 1974. In 1980, his father named him successor at the Sixth Congress of the KWP, according to GlobalSecurity.org. Unlike his predecessor, Kim does not listen to others when making decisions, is unreceptive to criticism, and, as defector and former inner circle member Hwan Jang Yop told the New York Times, "If I went into the details, it would take many days. As a politician or a leader who can work for the development of the state and the happiness of the people, he is an F student, a dropout. But as a dictator he has excellent ability. He can organize people so they 't move, can't do anything, and he can keep them under his ideology. As far as I know, the present North Korean dictatorial system is the most precise and thorough in history." It is believed that Kim curries favor with those he needs to maintain power, such as the military and the party elites with the money he receives from foreign aid. Larger social issues are secondary to maintenance of power and half hearted attempts to reform or bring about greater social change are merely a front to assuage his apologists and manipulate his opponents.
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