Kim Jong-Il honored as a deity, has more than 1,200 titles

World Tribune/December 1, 2003

The Sun of the 21st Century, the Eternal Sun, the Guardian Deity of the Planet, the Sun of Socialism, and the Ever-Victorious General.

These are just a few of many titles and phrases used to refer to North Korea's enigmatic leader, Kim Jong-Il.

The North's state-run Korean Central Broadcasting Station says a total of 1,200 titles and phrases have been created and used to refer to Kim. "Prominent leaders from 160 nation across the world have used at least 1,200 tiles to honor our Great General (Kim Jong-Il)," it said in a recent report.

The references include Lode Star of the 21st Century, Peerless Leader, Beloved Leader, Great Leader, Dear Leader, Great Suryong (chieftain), the Sun of Revolution, the Sun of Life, the Sun of Juche (self-reliance, the ruling idea of the country), and the Fatherly Leader of all Koreans, among others.

North Korea's official media began to use particular titles and phrases to refer to Kim in 1974, when his father and national founder, Kim Il-Sung, chose him as his successor.

Pyongyang's newspapers had described the junior Kim as "Party Center" after he began his political career in the country's ruling Workers' Party. This was the beginning of a concerted effort to create a personality cult for the junior Kim.

In 1998, Kim became the first ruler in communist history to succeed a father as head of state when he completed the decades-long dynastic power inheritance program. The formal power transfer took place more than four years after the elder Kim died in July 1994.

Kim, 62, is now ruling the reclusive nation in the capacity of the supreme military leader. The North has abolishing the office of the state president, declaring the deceased father to be the "eternal president of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea."