page_title: History of North Korea
section_title: Succession by Kim Jong-il
hierarchical_section_title: History of North Korea / Succession by Kim Jong-il
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Demilitarisierte Zone, NordkoreaEnglish: Demilitarized Zone of Korea
context_page_description: The history of North Korea began at the end of World War II in 1945. The surrender of Japan led to the division of Korea at the 38th parallel, with the Soviet Union occupying the north, and the United States occupying the south. The Soviet Union and the United States failed to agree on a way to unify the country, and in 1948 they established two separate governments – the Soviet-aligned Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Western-aligned Republic of Korea – each claiming to be the legitimate government of all of Korea.
  In 1950 the Korean War broke out. After much destruction, the war ended with a stalemate. The division at the 38th parallel was replaced by the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Tension between the two sides continued. Out of the rubble North Korea built an industrialized command economy.
  Kim Il-sung led North Korea until his death in 1994. He developed a pervasive personality cult and steered the country on an independent course in accordance with the principle of Juche. However, with natural disasters and the collapse of the Soviet Bloc in 1991, North Korea went into a severe economic crisis.
context_section_description: Kim Il-sung died from a sudden heart attack on July 8, 1994, three weeks after the Carter visit. His son, Kim Jong-il, who had already assumed key positions in the government, succeeded as General Secretary of the Korean Workers' Party. At that time, North Korea had no secretary-general in the party nor a president. What minimal legal procedure had been established was summarily ignored. Although a new constitution appeared to end the wartime political system, it did not completely terminate the transitional military rule. Rather it legitimized and institutionalized military rule by making the National Defense Commission (NDC) the most important state organization and its chairman the highest authority. After three years of consolidating his power, Kim Jong-il became Chairman of the NDC on October 8, 1997, a position described by the NDC as the nation's "highest administrative authority", and thus North Korea's de facto head of state. His succession had been foreshadowed in 1980, when he was introduced to the public at the Sixth Party Congress. In 1982, Kim Jong-il had established himself as a leading theoretician with the publication of On the Juche Idea. In 1984, he had been officially confirmed as his father's successor.
  Although the succession of Kim Jong-il coincided with much societal upheaval, and the succession is conventionally seen as a turning point of North Korean history, the change in leadership hardly had direct consequences. The politics in the last years of Kim Il-sung closely resemble those of the beginning of the Kim Jong-il era. The economy was in steep decline. In 1990–1995, foreign trade was cut in half, with the loss of subsidized Soviet oil being particularly keenly felt. The crisis came to a head in 1995 with widespread flooding that destroyed crops and infrastructure, leading to a famine that lasted until 1998. At the same time, there appeared to be little significant internal opposition to the regime. Indeed, a great many of the North Koreans fleeing to China because of famine still showed significant support for the government as well as pride in their homeland. Many of these people reportedly returned to North Korea after earning sufficient money.
  In 1998, the government announced a new policy called "Songun", or "Military First". Some analysts suggested that this meant the Korean People's Army was now more powerful than the Workers' Party.
  President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea actively attempted to reduce tensions between the two Koreas under the Sunshine Policy.  After the election of George W. Bush as the President of the United States in 2000, North Korea faced renewed pressure over its nuclear program.
  On October 9, 2006, North Korea announced that it had successfully detonated a nuclear bomb underground. An official at South Korea's seismic monitoring center confirmed that a magnitude-3.6 tremor felt at the time was not a natural occurrence.
  Additionally, North Korea was running a missile development program. In 1998, North Korea tested a Taepodong-1 Space Launch Vehicle, which successfully launched but failed to reach orbit. On July 5, 2006, it tested a Taepodong-2 ICBM that reportedly could reach the west coast of the U.S. in the 2-stage version, or the entire U.S. with a third stage. However, the missile failed shortly after launch.
  On February 13, 2007, North Korea signed into an agreement with South Korea, the United States, Russia, China, and Japan,  which stipulated North Korea would shut down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor in exchange for economic and energy assistance. However, in 2009 the North continued its nuclear test program.
  In 2010, the sinking of a South Korean naval ship, the Cheonan, allegedly by a North Korean torpedo, and North Korea's shelling of Yeonpyeong Island escalated tensions between North and South.
caption: Portraits of Kim Il-sung and his son and successor Kim Jong-il
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