How will Kim Jong-il be judged by history?

[Blanquist]

He is one of the 'greatest' leaders in Korean history. How does he compare to other rulers of Korea? Could he possibly have been the most powerful?

At least in the narrow view of just Korea and it's history.

[Railyon]

He will be the Pétain of Korea.

[Omsk]

He will be forever in the shadow of his father.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

A dictator who kept the North Korean country safe against Western Imperialism via a whole range of mostly inhumane methods.Tough times call for tough measures, I guess.He might be remembered more positively on the Asian continent but I doubt the (objective) praise will be a whole lot better.

[Grenzer]

A dictator who kept the North Korean country safe against Western Imperialism via a whole range of mostly inhumane methods.Tough times call for tough measures, I guess.He might be remembered more positively on the Asian continent but I doubt the (objective) praise will be a whole lot better.

Yeah, but who kept the North Korean people safe from Chinese and Russian Imperialism? Surely not Kim Jong-Il, the man who willingly facilitated the exploitation of the North Korean workers by China and Russia and shipped them off to Siberia.

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

Can't speak for Koreans or the region, only for my own perspective. Just another ego-driven dictator in a ruthless, ideologically driven state. Not much better or worse than any other dictator of any other state.
All leaders of nations are responsible for some ills in the populace, it's just a matter of by what degree and how severe those ills are.

[the last donut of the night]

how history will idk but he was a huge dick, that's my judgement

[Goblin]

He will be remembered for his lulz. At least here in the west.

[names_r_hard]

The same way we remember Stalin and Mao. The difference being that in the cases of Stalin and Mao you can at least say that there were some positive affects (none of which are controversial) of their leadership while with Kim Jong Il it was pretty much all bad.

He may have resisted western imperialism but purely at the expense of his people and more to the benefit of China than anyone else, does anyone seriously believe that they'd be better of north of the DMZ than south of it?

[Regicollis]

He will be remembered as a brutal dictator who lived like an international playboy while his people were starving and abused the name and symbols of socialism to justify his authoritarian regime.

[Manic Impressive]

He will be remembered as the supreme commander of Funk
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[Mass Grave Aesthetics]

He shall primarily be remembered for this. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089851/)
His greatest accomplishment!

[scarletghoul]

a fucking legend

[Lev Bronsteinovich]

A third-rate Stalinist leader, who only managed to come to power via an accident of birth. Agreed that he will be viewed as a lesser version of his father. Which is to say a lesser version of a second rate Stalinist leader (who at least came to power through his own struggles and fought against the Japanese)

[rednordman]

He will probably be remembered by people who have a clue as the guy who had the greatest chance in modern times to prove that the old style (soviet/chinese) socialism could work for the better of the Korean people, but totally and completely messed it up in the worst way possible. The only real admirable thing that he was successful with was pissing the Americans off very very badly. But even something as awesome as that is no consolation for the plight of the North Korean people during his reign.

[Robespierres Neck]

From a worldwide standpoint, probably not all that good.

[jookyle]

I like to think of him as the way he was portrayed by Amy Poler on SNL

[Sixiang]

He is one of the 'greatest' leaders in Korean history. How does he compare to other rulers of Korea? Could he possibly have been the most powerful?

At least in the narrow view of just Korea and it's history.

Well, compared to the old bone aristocracy that controlled Korea for a couple thousand years to ensure the continued oppression of Korean peasants and the monarchy that quickly capitulated to all outside powers, turning Korea into a Japanese colony to be stripped of its culture, language, and history, and to the right-wing military government of South Korea that crushes peasant and worker uprisings pretty brutally, he's not any worse than the rest of them. I don't see how he was any more powerful than Syngman Rhee, Park Chung-hee, or any of the other military "dictators" of South Korea. Honestly, liberal rhetoric about how Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il were evil tyrants who ruled all by themselves and didn't do anything nice for their people really rings hollow when you consider the regime in South Korea that the UN has been supporting militarily and financially for the past 60 years.

[Brosa Luxemburg]

The North Korean regime, with it's theology of Juche, is probably the most despicable and repressive country on this planet in current affairs. The cult of personality around the Kim dynasty is so intense that North Koreans don't believe that the Kim's piss or shit because such vile things could not come from such great leaders. Kim Jong-Il has been known to kidnap citizens of other countries, such as when he had a South Korean filmaker kidnapped so he could make a "socialist" Godzilla. Along with these, this article contains many more ridiculous examples of Kim Jong-Il's reign. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/shortcuts/2011/dec/19/kim-jong-il-things-never-knew) North Korea has introduced "free-market" zones in the country, huge inequalities in wealth exist between the populace and the leaders, generalized commodity production exists, etc. etc.

This isn't about "ultra-leftist hooligans" versus "Stalin-loving idiots". This is about a horrible regime that almost all socialists (well, maybe barring the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) and some Maoists) agree is despicable. It is IN NO FUCKING WAY SOCIALIST! I hate seeing North Korean apologists spread their filth. Kim Jong-Il is no hero and should only be seen as he truly is: a petty little man who ruled over a failing system that lives in isolation from the rest of the world and has to use harsh measures of indoctrination to retain it's legitimacy.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Yeah, but who kept the North Korean people safe from Chinese and Russian Imperialism? Surely not Kim Jong-Il, the man who willingly facilitated the exploitation of the North Korean workers by China and Russia and shipped them off to Siberia.

Which is why I said Western Imperialism...

[Permanent Revolutionary]

As an out-of-touch dictator who cared more for brandy and martial art-flicks than his own people.
In other words. Good riddance!

[Ocean Seal]

Meh I hope that history doesn't carry the same emotional perspectives. Kim Jong Il will be remembered as just another dictator in some part of the third world. One who pissed off the west and had them in his own backyard, nothing really special, when capitalism ends I doubt we will talk about him very much.

[gorillafuck]

history will remember Kim Il-Sung as much more notable than Kim Jong-Il.

[Communix]

He will be remembered as a brave anti-imperialist who stood against the whole world against imperialist attacks on Korean independence and socialism.