North Korea In Transition
10:28 am
Mon December 19, 2011

Key Moments In The Rule Of Kim Jong Il

Credit STR / AFP/Getty Images
Korean Central News Agency photo released on Jan. 18, 2009, showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il posing with soldiers.

Kim Jong Il succeeded his father and ruled the secretive nation for 17 years. It was a period that included repeated friction with the international community over North Korea's nuclear weapons program and a devastating famine in the late 1990s that may have been responsible for upwards of 2 million deaths.