[imText1]Regarding Kim Jong Il’s recent decline in health, Hwang Jang Yop, President of the North Korean Democratization Alliance said, “Rumors have recently suggested that Kim Jong Il has a bad heart. From what people say, he never drank a lot and was quite healthy.”
However, Kim Jong Il has developed a cardiac illness and so it is possible that his heart has worsened, remarked President Hwang.
On the 26th, President Hwang spoke to university students at a lecture in Seoul and said that Kim Jong Il had always took care of maintaining his health. Regarding Kim Jong Il’s personality, President Hwang explained, “Kim Jong Il is very witty. If he makes a decision to achieve something, he’ll look at none other than obtaining that goal.”
However, he said Kim Jong Il has little patience in areas which he has no interest and gave one anecdote, “One day I made him sit down to teach the common knowledge of economics. Then Kim Jong Il said, ‘Let’s call it quits. Dialectics is too hard to learn’ and left abruptly.”
President Hwang also mentioned that Kim Jong Il had a very good feel of politics from a young age.
“From his teenage years, he thought like a true politician” said President Hwang and added, “When I went to Moscow with Kim Jong Il in 1959, I asked him ‘Why don’t you go to Moscow State University like your uncle?’ in which he replied, ‘I must learn politics from my father.’”
Also, President Hwang said, “I had a headache as I went around visiting technical factories in Moscow baffled by the difficult language but Kim Jong Il would listen intently” and informed, “Kim Jong Il said that it was something his father was interested in and so he needed to report on it after returning to North Korea.”
“Kim Jong Il would place shoes on his father’s feet who was still active and not a man of even 50 years. That’s how extraordinary he was at charming his father” said President Hwang.
In comparison to Kim Jong Il, another contending successor at the time Kim Il Song’s younger brother, Kim Young Joo, was rather honest, explained President Hwang.
“In 1972, when I wrote a philosophical book on the ‘Juche Ideology,’ a modified version of Marxism, Kim Young Joo turned to one side and said, ‘This is a little different to Marxism.’” Then “Kim Jong Il came and said, ‘There’s something wrong with our uncle. He opposes the leader’s philosophy.’”
At the time, Kim Jong Il decided to use the new created Juche Ideology politically, but even he did not know about the philosophical basis of the Juche Ideology. On other hand, Kim Young Joo thought the contents of Juche was odd from the view of a genuine Marxist.
President Hwang said, “From 1985, Kim Il Song and Kim Jong Il’s positions began to be defined and the role of Kim Il Song’s philosophy came to an end” and added, “He looked like he held power but only when foreigners came to visit.”
He also revealed that Kim Jong Il’s younger sister’s personality, Kim Kyung Hee was very influential.
“Once when Kyung Hee was dating Jang Sung Taek, she suddenly opened my office door and criticized, ‘Why do you continue to meddle in things. Shouldn’t dating be a free choice?’” President Hwang said and informed, “Even Kim Jong Il said ‘Kyung hee is scary and strong.”
