3. North Korea’s Kim Jong Il inherited his father’s looks – and his tyrannical ruthlessness
Like father, like son: Kim Jong Il’s father was a dictator and tyrant, and his successor was one too. Indeed, in many ways, Kim Jong Il was the worse of the two, taking the regime his father had established in North Korea and becoming even more forceful in repressing its people. Indeed, Kim Jong Il has been accused of countless human rights violations and, according to historians, even starved his people in order to boost the nation’s military might.
Kim Jong Il was born in Russia in 1941. His father was stationed there, commanding a battalion of the Soviet Army. He was aged just four when the Second World War came to an end and Korea regained its independence from Imperial Japan. The family returned to Pyongyang and the young Kim began school. Whether he was educated in Korea is open to debate, however. According to some accounts, he was sent to China, to be kept safe during the Korean War, though he was definitely back in North Korea by the 1960s.
By 1980, Kim Jong Il had been singled out as the likely successor to his father. His chance finally came when Kim Il-Sung died in 1994. Far from adopting a different style of rule to his father, he went even further in his use of state oppression. Most notably, as “The Dear Leader”, his country suffered one of the worst famines in world history, with millions dying. Instead of feeding his people, Kim prioritized building up North Korea’s military. Any opposition to his policies was ruthlessly put down. Under Kim, the network of concentration camps his father built up was significantly expanded, and human rights groups routinely accused him of serious crimes against humanity.
Much of Kim Jong Il’s life was kept secret. Even his death was hidden from his people, only being announced two days after his passing. Upon his death, his own son, Kim Jong-un took control of North Korea. As with his father and his father before him, the young dictator immediately showed himself to be a ruthless tyrant unwilling to give up any of his absolute power.