Kim Jong-il (menurut versi resmi biografinya lahir 16 Februari 1942 – meninggal 17 Desember 2011 pada umur 69 tahun) telah menjabat sebagai pemimpin Korea Utara (Korut) sejak 1994. Ia menggantikan ayahnya, Kim Il-sung, yang telah memimpin Korut sejak 1948. Kim Jong-il diangkat menggunakan sistem di mana dialah satu-satunya calon pemimpin. Kim yang mendapat julukan Dear Leader juga menjabat sebagai Ketua Komisi Pertahanan Nasional dan Sekretaris Jenderal Partai Pekerja Korea. Ulang tahunnya dirayakan sebagai salah satu hari libur di Korut.Pada tanggal 19 Desember 2011, kantor berita Reuters memberitakan bahwa Kim Jong-il meninggal dunia pada hari Sabtu, 17 Desember 2011 dalam sebuah perjalanan dengan kereta api. Diumumkan bahwa pemimpin berusia 69 tahun itu meninggal karena kelelahan fisik dan mental setelah bekerja terlalu keras untuk memberi "bimbingan di lapangan". Ia dimakamkan di Istana Pemakaman Kumsusan, Pyongyang. Untuk mengenang jasa-jasanya, pada tanggal 15 Februari 2012, ia dianugerahi gelar tertinggi sebagai "Jenderal Besar". Penobatan Kim sebagai "Jenderal Besar" diumumkan sehari setelah peresmian patung Kim sedang mengendarai kuda di samping ayahnya yang juga pendiri negara Korea Utara, Kim Il Sung, di Pyongyang.
Kim Jong-Il adalah anak dari Kim Il-sung dan Kim Jong Suk. Dia memiliki seorang adik perempuan bernama Kim Kyong Hui yang menikah dengan Chang Sung Taek. Kim Jong-Il memiliki empat istri, yaitu Song Hye-rim, seorang artis Korea Utara terkenal; Kim Young-suk; Ko Young-hee, artis penari etnis Korea kelahiran Jepang; dan Kim Ok. Kim Jong-Il memiliki empat orang anak, yaitu Kim Jong Nam (dari Song Hye-rim), Kim Sul-song (dari Kim Young-suk), serta Kim Jong Chul dan Kim Jong-un (keduanya dari Ko Young-hee).
Kim Jong-il (Korean pronunciation: [16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly referred to as North Korea, from 1994 to 2011. He succeeded his father and founder of the DPRK, Kim Il-sung, following the elder Kim's death in 1994. Kim Jong-il was the General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea, and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, the fourth-largest standing army in the world.
In April 2009, North Korea's constitution was amended to officially refer to him (and his later successors) as the "Supreme Leader of the DPRK". The most common colloquial title given to him during his reign was "The Dear Leader" (친애하는 지도자) to distinguish him from his father Kim Il-sung, "The Great Leader". The North Korean government announced his death on 19 December 2011, whereupon his third son, Kim Jong-un, was promoted to a senior position in the ruling Workers' Party and succeeded him. After his death, he was designated as the "Eternal General Secretary" of the Worker's Party of Korea and the Eternal Chairman of the National Defence Commission, in keeping with the tradition of establishing eternal posts for the dead members of the Kim dynasty.
Soviet records show that Kim was born Yuri Irsenovich Kim in the village of Vyatskoye, near Khabarovsk, in 1941, where his father, Kim Il-sung, commanded the 1st Battalion of the Soviet 88th Brigade, made up of Chinese and Korean exiles. Kim Jong-il's mother, Kim Jong-suk, was Kim Il-sung's first wife. Inside his family, he was nicknamed Yura, while his younger brother Kim Man-il (born Alexander Irsenovich Kim) was nicknamed Shura.
However, Kim Jong-il's official biography states he was born in a secret military camp on Baekdu Mountain (Korean: 백두산밀영고향집) in Japanese-occupied Korea on 16 February 1942. Official biographers claim that his birth at Baekdu Mountain was foretold by a swallow, and heralded by the appearance of a double rainbow across the sky over the mountain and a new star in the heavens. According to one comrade of Kim's mother, Lee Min, word of Kim's birth first reached an army camp in Vyatskoye via radio and that both Kim and his mother did not return there until the following year.
In 1945, Kim was four years old when World War II ended and Korea regained independence from Japan. His father returned to Pyongyang that September, and in late November Kim returned to Korea via a Soviet ship, landing at Sonbong (선봉군, also Unggi). The family moved into a former Japanese officer's mansion in Pyongyang, with a garden and pool. Kim Jong-il's brother drowned there in 1948. Unconfirmed reports suggest that five-year-old Kim Jong-il might have caused the accident. Reports indicate that his mother died in childbirth in 1949, however, unconfirmed reports suggest that his mother might have been shot and left to bleed to death.
