Episode 22 – Who was Kim Jong-il and how did he shape North Korea?

Ask me about North Korea

Kim Jong-il, the second ruler of the DPRK, transformed North Korea in many ways – willingly or not. During the years of his rule, North Korea became a semi-capitalist isolated society in possession of nuclear weapons, a country that would not leave the front pages of international mass-media outlets. An incompetent leader but a talented diplomat, Kim Jong-il managed to pull his authoritarian regime through the period of economic crisis – all that despite the ominous predictions of imminent collapse coming from American and European political scientists. In today’s episode we look at the political biography of Kim Jong-il and at the legacy he left behind.