Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il

Born: February 16, 1941
Died: December 17, 2011
in Khabarovsk, USSR
Kim Jong Il, born Yuri Irsenovich Kim on 16 February 1941, was a North Korean politician who was the second President of North Korea. He led North Korea following the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994 until his own death in 2011, when he was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Un. Afterwards, Kim Jong Il was declared Eternal General Secretary of the WPK.

In the early 1980s, Kim had become the heir apparent for the leadership of North Korea, thus being established the Kim dynasty and he assumed important posts in party and army organizations. Kim was the General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), WPK Presidium, Chairman of the National Defense Commission (NDC) of North Korea and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army (KPA), the fourth-largest standing army in the world.

Kim assumed leadership during a period of catastrophic economic crisis amidst the dissolution of the Soviet Union, on which it was heavily dependent for trade in food and other supplies, which brought a famine. Kim strengthened the role of the military by his Songun ("military-first") policies, making the army the central organizer of civil society. Kim's rule also saw economic reforms, including the opening of the Kaesong Industrial Park in 2003.

Following Kim's failure to appear at important public events in 2008, foreign observers assumed that Kim had either fallen seriously ill or died. On 19 December 2011, the North Korean government announced that he had died two days earlier, whereupon his third son, Kim Jong Un, was promoted to a senior position in the ruling WPK and succeeded him.

Movies for Kim Jong-il...

Beyond Utopia
Title: Beyond Utopia
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: October 23, 2023
Type: Movie
A courageous pastor uses his underground network to rescue and aid North Korean families as they risk their lives to embrace freedom.
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Title: Moving
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: August 9, 2023
Type: TV
Children who live in hiding with superpowers, along with their parents who live with painful secrets of the past, face enormous dangers together.
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King of Clones
Title: King of Clones
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: June 23, 2023
Type: Movie
From groundbreaking human cloning research to a scandalous downfall, this documentary tells the captivating story of Korea's most notorious scientist.
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Nordkorea – Die Macht der Kim-Dynastie
Title: Nordkorea – Die Macht der Kim-Dynastie
Character: Himself
Released: June 1, 2023
Type: Movie
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Title: How to Become a Tyrant
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: July 9, 2021
Type: TV
The documentary series explores different political figures throughout history.
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Title: Spycraft
Character: Self
Released: January 20, 2021
Type: TV
The spy game is a serious business, and throughout history, the tools and technologies developed for it have mattered as much as the spies themselves.
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North Korea: Inside The Mind of a Dictator
Title: North Korea: Inside The Mind of a Dictator
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 18, 2021
Type: Movie
A journey through Kim Jong Un’s past and present to understand the man and the myth who holds North Korea’s uncertain future in his hands.
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Korea, A Hundred Years of War
Title: Korea, A Hundred Years of War
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: June 11, 2020
Type: Movie
A contemporary history of Korea(s) from a unique point of view that embraces the inner history of both South and North Korea in a single narrative.
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President - Documentary
Title: President - Documentary
Character: Himself (archive footage)
Released: November 7, 2019
Type: Movie
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Korea: The Never-Ending War
Title: Korea: The Never-Ending War
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: April 29, 2019
Type: Movie
Shedding new light on a geopolitical hot spot, the film — written and produced by John Maggio and narrated by Korean-American actor John Cho — confronts the myth of the “Forgotten War,” documenting the post-1953 conflict and global consequences.
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Title: NHK WORLD PRIME
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: October 7, 2017
Type: TV
NHK WORLD PRIME brings you a world of mainly documentaries, and more. Tune in to see special select programs on all sorts of topics and genres.
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The Lovers and the Despot
Title: The Lovers and the Despot
Character: Self - Politician (archive footage)
Released: September 22, 2016
Type: Movie
Hong Kong, 1978. South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee is kidnapped by North Korean operatives following orders from dictator Kim Jong-il.
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I Am Sun Mu
Title: I Am Sun Mu
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: October 3, 2015
Type: Movie
Operating under a pseudonym which means 'no boundaries' - North Korean defector Sun Mu creates political pop art based on his life, homeland, and hope for a future united Korea. His hidden identity is nearly compromised when a massive historical exhibit in Beijing is shuttered by Chinese and North Korean authorities.
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The Propaganda Game
Title: The Propaganda Game
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: October 3, 2015
Type: Movie
North Korea. The last communist country in the world. Unknown, hermetic and fascinating. Formerly known as “The Hermit Kingdom” for its attempts to remain isolated, North Korea is one of the largest sources of instability as regards world peace. It also has the most militarized border in the world, and the flow of impartial information, both going in and out, is practically non-existent. As the recent Sony-leaks has shown, it is the perfect setting for a propaganda war.
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Kim Jong-un: The Unauthorized Biography
Title: Kim Jong-un: The Unauthorized Biography
Character: Self - Politician (archive footage)
Released: September 23, 2015
Type: Movie
A journey through several countries to find those who really know Kim Jong-un, North Korea's leader, in an attempt to profile a contradictory dictator who seems to rule his nation with both disturbing benevolence and cold cruelty while being worshipped as a living god by his subjects in exalted displays of ridiculous fanaticism.
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Title: Spotlight
Character: Himself (archive footage)
Released: May 31, 2015
Type: TV
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Dennis Rodman's Big Bang in PyongYang
Title: Dennis Rodman's Big Bang in PyongYang
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 25, 2015
Type: Movie
Dennis Rodman is on a mission. After forging an unlikely friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, he wants to improve relations between North Korea and the US by staging a historic basketball game between the two countries. But the North Korean team isn't the only opposition he'll face... Condemned by the NBA and The Whitehouse, and hounded every step of the way by the press, can Dennis keep it together and make the game happen? Or will it go up in a mushroom cloud of smoke? For the first time, discover the true story of what happened when Dennis Rodman took a team of former-NBA players to North Korea and staged the most controversial game of basketball the world has never seen.
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Dictator: One Crazy Job
Title: Dictator: One Crazy Job
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: June 12, 2013
Type: Movie
They’ve become the human face of inhuman barbarity. Leaders like Hitler, Idi Amin Dada, Stalin, Kim Jong Il, Saddam Hussein, Nicolae Ceausescu, Bokassa, Muammar Kadhafi, Khomeini, Mussolini and Franco governed their countries completely cut off from reality. These paranoid leaders were driven to abuse their power by the pathology of power itself. Dictators are driven by a relentless, thought-out determination to impose themselves as infallible, all-knowing and all-powerful beings. But they are also men ruled by their caprices, uncontrollable impulses, and reckless fits of frenzy, which paradoxically render them as human as anyone else. The abuses they committed were clearly atrocious, yet some of them were as outlandish as the characters portrayed in the film The Dictator. They sunk to depths worthy of Kafka: so incredibly absurd, they are outrageously funny.
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Propaganda
Title: Propaganda
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: February 14, 2013
Type: Movie
An anti-western propaganda film about the influences of American visual and consumption culture on the rest of the world, as told from a North Korean perspective.
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One Day on Earth
Title: One Day on Earth
Character: self
Released: April 22, 2012
Type: Movie
Recording a 24-hour period throughout every country in the world, we explore a greater diversity of perspectives than ever seen before on screen. We follow characters and events that evolve throughout the day, interspersed with expansive global montages that explore the progression of life from birth, to death, to birth again. In the end, despite unprecedented challenges and tragedies throughout the world, we are reminded that every day we are alive there is hope and a choice to see a better future together. Founded in 2008, it set out to explore our planet's identity and challenges in an attempt to answer the question: Who are we?
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Kim Jong-il
Title: Kim Jong-il
Released: September 13, 2011
Type: Movie
Director Watanabe proposes that Kim Jong-il, supreme leader of North Korea, died in September 2003, and that this fact has been concealed by the media and government
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North Korean Film Madness
Title: North Korean Film Madness
Character: Himself
Released: April 20, 2011
Type: Movie
Vice.com We went to North Korea to try and penetrate the Korean Feature Film Studio, the state-run film production facility west of Pyongyang: a sprawling lot that at its height produced around 40 films a year.
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The Red Chapel
Title: The Red Chapel
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: December 29, 2010
Type: Movie
Two Danish comedians join the director on a trip to North Korea, where they have been allowed access under the pretext of wanting to perform a vaudeville act.
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Death of a President
Title: Death of a President
Character: Himself (archive footage)
Released: October 27, 2006
Type: Movie
A fictional investigative documentary looks back on the "assassination" of George W. Bush and attempts to answer the question of who committed the murder. Perhaps less morbid and disturbing to watch now than during Bush's presidency, the film doesn't address Bush's policies at all, instead focusing on the way a nation assigns blame in a time of crisis.
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Friends Of Kim
Title: Friends Of Kim
Character: Himself (archive footage)
Released: March 1, 2006
Type: Movie
Hilarious and sobering account of the first time an international group of Kim Jong Il supporters visits North Korea. In 12 days, the 22 participants travel through a country full of monuments, propaganda and poverty. What begins as a idealistic magical mystery tour gradually turns into a nightmare.
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A State of Mind
Title: A State of Mind
Character: Himself (archive footage)
Released: August 10, 2005
Type: Movie
Two young North Korean gymnasts prepare for an unprecedented competition in this documentary that offers a rare look into the communist society and the daily lives of North Korean families. For more than eight months, film crews follow 13-year-old Pak Hyon Sun and 11-year-old Kim Song Yun and their families as the girls train for the Mass Games, a spectacular nationalist celebration.
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Respected Comrade Kim Jong Il is a Great Thinker and Theoretician
Title: Respected Comrade Kim Jong Il is a Great Thinker and Theoretician
Character: Himself
Released: April 7, 2000
Type: Movie
Documentary film praising the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il for his political and social values, and beliefs to build a strong communist nation.
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Always Working Together for the People
Title: Always Working Together for the People
Character: Himself
Released: January 1, 1994
Type: Movie
A documentary highlighting how both Kim il-Sung and Kim Jong-il work for the prosperity of the juche system and North Korean people.