The eternal leaders of North Korea are titles accorded to deceased leaders of

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

. The phrase was used in a line of the preamble to the Constitution, as amended on 30 June 2016, and in subsequent revisions. It reads (in the original version):

History of the title

Presidency of North Korea before 1994

The post of "President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" was established in the Constitution of North Korea in 1972. Until then,

Kim Il Sung Kim Il Sung (born Kim Song Ju; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he led as its first Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader from North Korea#Founding, its establishm ...

held the posts of

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

and

general secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of the

Workers' Party of Korea The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), also called the Korean Workers' Party (KWP), is the sole ruling party of North Korea. Founded in 1949 from a merger between the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of South Korea, the WPK is ...

. In 1972, the presidency was established, and Kim Il Sung was elected to the position by the

Supreme People's Assembly The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA; ) is the legislature of North Korea. It is ostensibly the highest organ of state power and the only branch of government in North Korea, with all state organs subservient to it under the principle of unified ...

, the North Korean

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

, on 28 December 1972. Kim served as president until 1994 when he died, and the position was left vacant and his son and successor Kim Jong Il was not given the title.

"Eternal President"

The preamble of the Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as amended on 5 September 1998 reads: The president was the ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

of North Korea, but whose powers were exercised by the "sacred leader" of the nation's state ideology called ''

Juche ''Juche'', officially the ''Juche'' idea, is a component of Ideology of the Workers' Party of Korea#Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism, Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism, the state ideology of North Korea and the official ideology of the Workers' Party o ...

''. According to Ashley J. Tellis and Michael Wills, this amendment to the preamble was an indication of the unique North Korean characteristic of being a theocratic state based on the personality cult surrounding Kim Il Sung. In addition, North Korea adopted a Juche calendar dating from 1912, the year of Kim Il Sung's birth. The 2012 constitution once again referred to Kim Il Sung as the "Eternal President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea".

"Eternal General Secretary" / "Eternal Chairman"

After the death of Kim Jong Il, the constitution was amended in 2012, declaring him Eternal General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and Eternal Chairman of the National Defence Commission. In 2016, the title "eternal leaders of Juche Korea" was introduced by amending the preamble of the constitution, and it was given to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. Constitution of North Korea (2016) on Wikisource

Head of state role in North Korea after the deaths of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il

The functions and powers previously belonging to the president were divided between numerous officials: the premier of North Korea; the chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly; and the head of the military, the chairman of the National Defence Commission (replaced by State Affairs Commission of North Korea in 2016) and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army. These positions are currently held by Pak Thae-song, Choe Ryong-hae, and Kim Jong Un respectively.

References

Bibliography

* {{Kim Jong-il 1998 in North Korea Government of North Korea Kim Il Sung Kim Jong Il Posthumous awards