Kim Jong-il
FILE - In this Dec. 17, 2011, file photo, South Korean champion Choi Hyunmi, a former North Korean defector, celebrates her victory over challenger Sainamdoy Pitaklongen of Thailand after their WBA women's featherweight title boxing bout in Seoul, South Korea. South Korea’s only boxing world champion is Choi, a North Korean defector who fled her authoritarian homeland as a 13-year-old girl with her family in 2003. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man, File)
Defector no more: Choi a proud South Korean world champion

By Hyung-Jin Kim Jul. 19, 2021 02:33 AM EDT

People visit the statues of their late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on the occasion of the Day of the Sun, the birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang, North Korea Thursday, April 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Cha Song Ho)
N Koreans mark founder's birthday amid economic difficulties

Apr. 15, 2021 06:11 AM EDT

A man wearing a face mask walks past near a TV screen showing a footage of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. Kim was given a new title, “general secretary” of the ruling Workers’ Party, formerly held by his late father and grandfather, state media reported Monday, in what appears to a symbolic move aimed at bolstering his authority amid growing economic challenges. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
N. Korea's Kim adds title: General secretary of ruling party

By Hyung-Jin Kim Jan. 10, 2021 07:42 PM EST

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, attends a ruling party congress in Pyongyang, North Korea Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. Kim has reviewed relations with rival South Korea and underscored the need to drastically improve its ties with the outside world as he addressed a major political conference for the third consecutive day, state media reported Friday. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
Kim vows to improve ties with outside world at party meeting

By Hyung-Jin Kim Jan. 07, 2021 11:57 PM EST

FILE - In this May 9, 2016, file photo, the portraits of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il hang inside the convention hall of the April 25 House of Culture where the party congress is held in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea has opened its biggest political event in five years amid what some experts see as the most fraught moment of leader Kim Jong Un’s nine-year rule. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)
EXPLAINER: What's behind N. Korea's biggest political event

By Hyung-Jin Kim Jan. 05, 2021 08:09 PM EST

People watch the national flag raising ceremony and fireworks display to celebrate the New Year, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, early Friday, Jan., 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)
North Korea's Kim thanks people in rare New Year's cards

By Hyung-Jin Kim Dec. 31, 2020 08:56 PM EST

An employee assembles leather shoes at the Wonsan Leather Shoes Factory in Wonsan, Kangwon Province, North Korea, on Oct. 28, 2020. North Korea is staging an “80-day battle,” a propaganda-heavy productivity campaign meant to bolster its internal unity and report greater production in various industry sectors ahead of a ruling party congress in January. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)
North Korea waging propaganda-heavy, 80-day labor campaign

By Hyung-Jin Kim Nov. 13, 2020 01:37 AM EST

In this image made from video broadcasted by North Korea's KRT, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, smiles as he leaves a ceremony to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the country’s ruling party in Pyongyang Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020.(KRT via AP)
North Korea unveils new weapons at military parade

By Kim Tong-Hyung Oct. 10, 2020 10:16 AM EDT

People watch a TV showing a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, May 2, 2020. Kim made his first public appearance in several weeks as he celebrated the completion of a fertilizer factory near Pyongyang, state media said Saturday, ending an absence that had triggered global rumors that he was seriously ill. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
N Korea's Kim Jong Un appears in public amid health rumors

By Kim Tong-Hyung May. 01, 2020 05:49 PM EDT

This image captured on Friday, May 1, 2020 shows part of a flagged Facebook post incorrectly claiming it shows Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden kissing a young girl’s cheek. The man in the photo is Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. (AP Photo)
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn't happen this week

By Arijeta Lajka, Amanda Seitz And Beatrice Dupuy May. 01, 2020 05:25 PM EDT

FILE - In this May 21, 1987, file photo, then North Korean President Kim Il Sung, center, and then Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang make their way through a crowd of well-wishers at the train station in Beijing. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s two-week absence from public view has inspired speculation and rumors, but past disappearances of North Korea's ruling elite frequently have simply shown the disconnect between insatiable curiosity about the country and the secrecy surrounding its leadership.(AP Photo/Neal Ulevich, File)
A look at past disappearances of NKorean leaders, officials

By Kim Tong-Hyung Apr. 28, 2020 03:23 AM EDT