Short Biography of Kim Jong Il

Kim Jong Il, the great leader of the Korean people, is General Secretary of the Workers’s Party of Korea, chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK and supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army.

- Born the son of President Kim Il Sung and the anti-Japanese heroine
Kim Jong Suk at the Mt.Paektu secret camp on 16 February 1942.

- Finished general education from September 1950 to August 1960.

- Completed higher education at Kim Il Sung University from September 1960 to March 1964.

- Admitted to the Worker's Party of Korea (WPK) on July 22 1961.

- Appointed an official of the WPK Central Committee in June 1964 and successively held the posts of section chief, deputy department director and department director of the CC until September 1973.

- Elected member of the WPK CC at the Fifth Plenary Meeting of the Fifth CC in October 1972, and secretary of the CC at the Seventh Plenum of the Fifth CC in September 1973.

- Elected to the Political Committee of the WPK CC and acclaimed heir to President Kim Il Sung at the Eighth Plenum of the Fifth CC in February 1974.

- Elected member of the Presidium of the Political Committee of the WPK CC, secretary of the CC and member of the Party Central Military Commission at the Sixth Party Congress in October 1980.

- Elected to the 7th to 11th Supreme People's Assemblies (SPA) of the DPRK between February 1982 and September 2003.
- Elected first vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission at the first session of the Ninth SPA in May 1990.

- Appointed Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army in December 1991.

- Awarded the title of DPRK Marshal in April 1992.

- Elected chairman of the National Defence Commission at the fifth session of the Ninth SPA in April 1993.

- Elected general secretary of the WPK in October 1997.

-Re-elected chairman of the National Defence Commission at the first session of the 10th SPA in September 1998 and at the first session of the 11th SPA in September 2003.

- Published a great number of works, including those compiled in the 14-volume “Kim Jong Il’s Selected Works” and the 10-volume “For the Accomplishment of the Revolutionary Cause of Juche”, through his energetic and brilliant ideological and theoretical activities.

- Awarded the title of DPRK Hero three times in 1975, 1982 and 1992, the
Kim Il Sung Order three times in 1978, 1982 and 1992, the Kim Il Sung Prize in February 1973, and many other decorations and medals.

- Received a large number of decorations and medals, honourary titles, titles of honourary professor and doctor from many countries