The following is a list of international trips made by Kim Jong Il during his tenure as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and Chairman of the National Defence Commission, capacities which he served in from 1994 to 2011.
The number of visits per country where he traveled are:
| Date(s) | Country | Locations | Leaders met | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29-31 May 2000 |  China | Beijing | General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin | [2] [3] |
| 15-20 January 2001 | Beijing Shanghai | [2] [3] | ||
| 26 July-18 August 2001 |  Russia | Moscow | President of Russia Vladimir Putin | [1] |
| 20-24 August 2002 | Khabarovsk Vladivostok | [1] | ||
| 19-21 April 2004 | China | Beijing | General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Hu Jintao | |
| 10-18 January 2006 | Beijing Hubei Guangdong | |||
| 3-5 May 2010 | Dalian | [4] [5] | ||
| August 2010 | Beijing | [6] | ||
| May 2011 | [7] [8] [9] | |||
| 20-25 August 2011 | Russia | Sosnovy Bor military garrison, Ulan Ude | President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev | [1] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] |
Kim Jong Il was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea. He led North Korea from the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994 until his death in 2011, when he was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Un. Afterwards, Kim Jong Il was declared Eternal General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).
Heaven Lake is a volcanic crater lake atop Paektu Mountain. It lies on the border between China and North Korea, and is roughly evenly divided between the two countries.
Kim Jong-nam was the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. From roughly 1994 to 2001, he was considered the heir apparent to his father. He was thought to have fallen out of favor after embarrassing the regime in 2001 with a failed attempt to visit Tokyo Disneyland with a false passport, although Kim himself said his loss of favor had been due to advocating reform.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) (Korean: 조선중앙통신) is the state news agency of North Korea. The agency portrays the views of the North Korean government for both domestic and foreign consumption. It was established on December 5, 1946, and now features online coverage.
Kim Jong Un is a North Korean politician who has been the third Supreme Leader of North Korea since December 2011 and general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is the third son of Kim Jong Il, who was the second supreme leader of North Korea, and a grandson of Kim Il Sung, the founder and first supreme leader of the country.
The Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, formerly the Kumsusan Memorial Palace (금수산기념궁전), is a building near the northeast corner of the city of Pyongyang that serves as the mausoleum for Kim Il Sung, first Supreme Leader and founder of North Korea, and for his son Kim Jong Il, whose preserved bodies have been displayed publicly since their deaths in 1994 and 2011. Both were posthumously designated as the Eternal leaders of North Korea.
The Soviet Union was the first to recognize North Korea on October 12, 1948, shortly after the proclamation, as the sole legitimate authority in all of Korea. The Soviet Union supported North Korea during the Korean War. North Korea was founded as part of the Communist bloc, and received major Soviet military and political support. The comprehensive personality cult around North Korea's ruling family was heavily influenced by Stalinism. China and the Soviet Union competed for influence in North Korea during the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s, as North Korea tried to maintain good relations with both countries.
The bilateral relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have been generally friendly, although they have been somewhat strained in recent years because of North Korea's nuclear program. They have a close special relationship. China and North Korea have a mutual aid and co-operation treaty, signed in 1961, which is currently the only defense treaty China has with any nation. China's relationship with North Korea is its only formal alliance.
Kim Kyong-hui is the aunt of current North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un. She is the daughter of the founding North Korean leader Kim Il Sung and the sister of the late leader Kim Jong Il. She currently serves as Secretary for Organization of the Workers' Party of Korea. An important member of Kim Jong Il's inner circle of trusted friends and advisors, she was director of the WPK Light Industry Department from 1988 to 2012. She was married to Jang Song-thaek, who was executed in December 2013 in Pyongyang, after being charged with treason and corruption.
Ri Sol-ju is the current First Lady of North Korea as the wife of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.
The Kim family, officially the Mount Paektu bloodline (Korean: 백두혈통), named for Paektu Mountain, in the ideological discourse of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), and often referred to as the Kim dynasty after the Cold War's end, is a three-generation lineage of North Korean leadership, descending from the country's founder and first leader, Kim Il Sung. Kim Il Sung came to rule the north in 1948, after the end of Japanese rule split the region in 1945. Following his death in 1994, Kim Il Sung's role as supreme leader was passed to his son, Kim Jong Il, and then in 2011 to his grandson, Kim Jong Un. The three served as leaders of the WPK, and as North Korea's supreme leaders since the state's establishment in 1948.
The Order of Freedom and Independence is one of the highest North Korean orders. It is divided into two classes: the first class is awarded to commanders and partisan units of brigades, divisions, and higher military groups for bravery, courage, and auspicious command of military operations. The second class is awarded to the commanders of partisan regiments, battalions, companies, and detachments, as well as to civil professionals employed in the industry for the military. The order is awarded with the Order of the National Flag of the same rank.
2018 in North Korea was marked by attempts by the government to develop its international relationships, particularly in regards to South Korea. In February, North Korean athletes marched alongside their South Korean counterparts under the Korean Unification Flag at the 2018 Seoul Olympic Games. North Korea's Kim Jong-Un met with South Korea's Moon Jae-in three times during the year. Kim also travelled to Beijing to meet with China's paramount leader Xi Jinping, and to Singapore for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The 2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit, commonly known as the Singapore Summit, was a summit meeting between North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, held at the Capella Hotel, Sentosa, Singapore, on June 12, 2018. It was the first-ever meeting between leaders of North Korea and the United States. They signed a joint statement, agreeing to security guarantees for North Korea, new peaceful relations, the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, recovery of soldiers' remains, and follow-up negotiations between high-level officials. Both leaders also met separately with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
The Central Military Band of the Korean People's Army (Korean: 조선인민군군악단), also sometimes known as the Korean People's Army Marching Band or DPRK Army Orchestra is a North Korean musical group/marching band based in Pyongyang and is the sole military band of the Korean People's Army. The Women's Military Marching Band of the Ministry of People's Security of the DPRK is the all-female unit of the central band.
The 2019 North Korea–Russia summit was a summit meeting between North Korea and Russia where North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on 25 April 2019.
Since the establishment of North Korea, all three of its leaders—Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un—have been known to use high-security private trains as their preferred method of domestic and international travel. The train itself is officially called Taeyangho, unofficially called the "Moving Fortress" and is likened to an Air Force One on rails.
