Editing Politics of North Korea (section)

== History ==
[[Kim Il Sung]] ruled the country from 1948 until [[Death of Kim Il-sung|his death]] in July 1994, holding the offices of [[General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea|General Secretary of the WPK]] from 1949 to 1994 (titled as chairman from 1949 to 1972), [[Premier of North Korea]] from 1948 to 1972 and [[President of North Korea|President]] from 1972 to 1994. He was succeeded by his son, [[Kim Jong Il]].  While the younger Kim had been his father's designated successor since the 1980s, it took him three years to consolidate his power. He was named to his father's old post of general secretary in 1997, and in 1998 became chairman of the [[National Defence Commission]] (NDC), which gave him command of the armed forces. The constitution was amended to make the NDC chairmanship "the highest post in the state."<ref>{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YB1wAgAAQBAJ&dq=The+constitution+was+amended+to+make+the+NDC+chairmanship+%22the+highest+post+in+the+state.%22&pg=PT631 |title=Whitaker's Shorts 2014: International |date=2013-11-07 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-4729-0613-7 |language=en}}</ref> At the same time, the presidential post was written out of the constitution, and Kim Il Sung was designated "[[Eternal leaders of North Korea|Eternal leader of Juche Korea]]" in order to honor his memory forever. Most analysts believe the title to be a product of [[Kim Il-sung's cult of personality|the cult of personality]] he cultivated during his life.