Baekdu. Disclaimer: This work has been submitted by a university student. The literature exposed him as one being intolerant of criticism and disfavoring of opposing opinions. When Jong Il's father died in 1994, Jong Il reportedly assumed supreme power over the North Korean state. However, both Pike (2009) and A&E Television Networks (2009), acknowledge that Jong Il's year of birth was subsequently adjusted to 1942. inclusive of its leader, Jong Il, the one in question). Quick Facts Name Kim Jong Il Birth Date c. February 16, 1941 Death Date December 17, 2011 Education Namsan Higher Middle School, Kim Il Sung University The circumstances surrounding Jong Il's birth remain a mystery. 1st Jan 1970 The reason given by Pike (2009) for this change was that the same was expected to necessitate a thirty-year age difference between Jong Il and his father Il Sung. Jong Il also received Reverent Power through his coercive tactics on his people. After his graduation from Kim Il-Sung University in 1964, Kim rose through the ranks of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party, focusing on culture and propaganda. *You can also browse our support articles here >. North Korea held two nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009, in defiance of international condemnation and United Nations sanctions; in 2010, North Korean artillery shelled a South Korean island in a confrontation over South Korean military exercises, an incident that brought the two sides to the brink of open warfare. despite the atrocities taking place in their country) to maintain the ideology that their homeland is literally "Paradise on Earth" (Hyun Sik, 2008, p.50). However, unfortunately for them, they were forced to return to their home land (Kang, 2006) where they paid the ultimate penalty for their supposed spiritual fornication. White Christian supremacy vs queer liberation theology. Many accounts have been given of the same. Apart from attending these schools, Jong Il was able to nurse the Juche ideology from being in close contact with his father as well as through his involvement with the Children's Union. Among these reasons are the following. Registered Data Controller No: Z1821391. What about his leadership style? But though he lacked the charisma and outgoing personality of his father, he was not the unstable and intellectually vacuous playboy of South Korean propaganda; foreign leaders who met him - including South Korea's president Kim Dae-Jung, Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, and US secretary of state Madeleine Albright - described him as intelligent, well-informed, even charming. This occurred irrespective of whether the actions were right or wrong. For example, Jong Il is noted to use his power for personal gain or impact and to promote his personal vision, to censure critical or opposing views, to demand that his decisions be accepted without question, to use one-way communication, and to be insensitive to followers' needs - all actions that are unethical by Howell and Avolio's standards. As a result of this it is assumed that he has adopted a certain degree of charisma and that this very charisma is what he was able to use to sway the minds of the Korean people in the direction that he wanted them to go. Kang (2006) argues that he should be charged for crimes of war as well as of genocide. Persons failing to comply with this order became 'political or ideological criminals' and were made to suffer much abuse (inclusive of rape and the deprivation of food and medicine) (Kang, 2006). The North Korean leader appeared to be a possessor of charismatic qualities (i.e. It is believed that this loyalty to his father is what made him his father's successor. through the use of the Propaganda and Agitation Department), to censure critical or opposing views (i.e. Apart from them being interpreted as treacherous, it is still unfathomable how the people of North Korea, at the hands of one man, can live to accept such an inhumane political system, and comply with it unquestioningly. "The People's Security Agency, the State Security Protection Agency, and the Korean Workers' Party 'each plant[ed] their own informants in all work-places and units of organization'", and since no one knew who exactly was an informant, they were all forced to be on their "Ps and Qs" (i.e. he was deemed to be one born with special qualities for a special purpose). For example, it was noted by Kang (2006) that Jong Il punished a nine year old and his family, because the child innocently scribbled over the faces of Jong Il and his father Il Sung that were printed in his text book. Help us hold our leaders to account and plan for a future beyond lockdown. As a result, Jong Il remains prisoner to a system into which he was born. Nevertheless, despite the latter, Jong Il can be thought of as a 'sad case', because his legitimacy as ruler of North Korea is determined by the said country's political system. Kang (2006) was careful to mention that the people of North Korea were mistreated on the basis of their religion and nationality. In the case of religion, any one who was deemed associated with any other religion besides Juche was persecuted by Jong Il. Consequently, it is believed that if he were to be properly examined then it may be understood why he is the way he is, how the people of North Korea have been affected by his rule as well as how things may be able to turn around for his country and people. Jong Il's upholding of the system is notably in the best interest of his country. He enjoyed film and the arts, fine food and drink, and kept late hours - and he even candidly admitted to a conference of party workers in 1996 that economics was never his strong suit. Everything he ordered was executed by his subordinates (i.e. to be on their best behavior) (Kang, 2006). without being opposed).