Chairman Kim Jong Il was born as the son of President Kim Il Sung and the anti-Japanese war heroine Kim Jong Suk at the Paektusan Secret Camp on February 16, 1942.
– Received general education from September 1950 to August 1960.
– Attended Kim Il Sung University from September 1960 to March 1964.
– Admitted to the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) on July 22, 1961.
– Appointed an officer of the WPK Central Committee in June 1964 and successively held the posts of section chief, deputy department director and department director of the WPK CC.
– Elected member of the WPK CC at the Fifth Plenary Meeting of the Fifth WPK CC in October 1972, and secretary of the WPK CC at the Seventh Plenary Meeting of the Fifth WPK CC in September 1973.
– Elected member of the Political Committee of the WPK CC and acclaimed heir to President Kim Il Sung at the Eighth Plenary Meeting of the Fifth WPK CC in February 1974.
– Elected member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the WPK CC, secretary of the WPK CC and member of the WPK Central Military Commission at the Sixth Congress of the WPK in October 1980.
– Elected deputy to the 7th to 12th Supreme People’s Assemblies (SPA) of the DPRK between February 1982 and March 2009.
– Elected First Vice-chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission at the First Session of the 9th SPA in May 1990.
– Appointed Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army in December 1991.
– Awarded the title of the DPRK Marshal in April 1992.
– Elected Chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission at the Fifth Session of the 9th SPA in April 1993.
– Elected General Secretary of the WPK in October 1997 and re-elected General Secretary of the WPK at the Third Conference of the WPK in September 2010.
– Re-elected Chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission at the First Session of the 10th SPA in September 1998, at the First Session of the 11th SPA in September 2003 and at the First Session of the 12th SPA in April 2009.
– Passed away from a sudden illness caused by excessive mental and physical exertions while working heart and soul for the building of a thriving country and the improvement of the people’s standard of living during his trip for field guidance of high intensity on December 17, 2011.
The army and people of the DPRK held Kim Jong Il in high esteem as the eternal General Secretary of the WPK and the eternal Chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission at the Fourth Conference of the WPK in April 2012 and at the Fifth Session of the 12th SPA in April 2012, respectively.
The army and people of the DPRK held Kim Jong Il in high esteem as the eternal leader of the WPK at the Seventh Congress of the WPK in May 2016.
– Published a great number of works, including those compiled in the 15-volume “Kim Jong Il’s Selected Works” and the 10-volume “Accomplishment of Juche Revolutionary Cause”, through energetic and brilliant ideological and theoretical activities.
– Awarded the titles of the DPRK Hero in 1975, 1982, 1992 and 2011 respectively, Kim Il Sung Order in 1978, 1982, 1992 and 2012, Kim Il Sung Prize in February 1973 and March 2012, and many other decorations and medals.
– Awarded the title of the DPRK Generalissimo in February 2012.
– Paid visits to foreign countries covering a distance of 98 000 km from January 1959 to August 2011 on 18 occasions.
– Received 401 decorations, medals and honorary titles from foreign countries.
