On August 17, 2005, North Korea's chief representative Kim Ki-Nam attended the meeting in Cheongwadae, the South Korean presidential palace in Seoul. Kim Jae-hwan/AFP/Getty Images CNN North Korean leader Kim Jong-un went to Kim Jong-il's coffin at 2 am on Wednesday to express his condolences over the death of this old revolutionary who was infinitely loyal to the country until the last moment.
The official news agency of the Korean Central News Agency said that Kim Jong Il died on Tuesday at the age of 94.
He is one of the core members of a group of loyal officials, who have continued the lineage of a revolutionary leader who founded the country in 1945 by consolidating the legitimacy of the three generations of the Kim family, thus maintaining the three generations of the Kim family.
"He is committed to supporting the victorious journey of building a powerful socialist country and maintaining the strong offensive and new development of the Party's ideological work in all fields in the new era," said the Korean Central News Agency.
Kim Jong Il is one of the few North Korean officials who visited South Korea. He led a funeral delegation in 2009 after the death of President Kim Dae-jung, who opened an era of reconciliation with Pyongyang with his "sunshine policy".
According to the data of the South Korean government, he went to the forefront of North Korea's propaganda machine, became North Korea's deputy leader in 1966, and then became North Korea's top leader during the reign of North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung in 1985. Retired in 2017.
Michael Madden, an expert on North Korea at Stimson Center, said that Kim Jong Il had a great influence on policies and personnel and was a key architect of the political foundation of the ruling Labor Party.
Madden quoted a source as saying that he was very close to Kim Jong Il, the father of the current leader who died in 2011, and was regarded as his "drinking friend".