9. Kim Jong-Il
Kim Jong-Il, born on February 16, 1941, in Vyatskoye, Soviet Union, was the son of Kim Il-Sung, the leader of North Korea, and his first wife, Kim Jong-Suk. Raised in a politically active family, he was educated in the Soviet Union and North Korea (biography.com). In 1974, he was named his father’s successor, and upon Kim Il-Sung’s death in 1994, Kim Jong-Il assumed leadership, continuing the family’s dynastic rule.
