# Can you answer some Kim Jong-il questions before the KCNA does? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 15, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-answer-some-kim-jong-il-questions-before-the-kcna-does/175370 "2003-05-15T04:39:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RobbieFal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c5a1d2/32.png) [@RobbieFal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobbieFal)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-answer-some-kim-jong-il-questions-before-the-kcna-does/175370/1 "2003-05-15T04:39:47Z")
this is the e-mail I sent to the Korean Central News Agency (based in Japan) 'Hello… is Kim Jong-Il called ‘Dear Leader’ or ‘Great Leader’? and what is Kim Il-Sung called? I hear it is either ‘Great Leader’ or some sort of Great Leader but below Kim Jong-Il Great Leaderness. Do you have the story about Kim Jong-Il’s first time golfing on your website? if not, can I hear what happened, I hear he played very well. Best wishes… BH’ Now, I think I know the first two… but I asked for clarifaction there. The third question is based on fiction, but expect the KCNA, if they reply, to regard it as real. You can answer how he did golfing (in the claim or real) for question three, unless you know kcna.co.jp 2 to 1 says that KCNA ignores me for not properly kissing some Great Leader ass. ---
**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-answer-some-kim-jong-il-questions-before-the-kcna-does/175370/2 "2003-05-15T08:08:45Z")
Kim Jong Il is usually called “Dear Leader”, and Kim Il Sung was “Great Leader” ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-answer-some-kim-jong-il-questions-before-the-kcna-does/175370/3 "2003-05-15T14:07:48Z")
Beatcha to it, pal. Here is the response I got: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=157112](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=157112) ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-answer-some-kim-jong-il-questions-before-the-kcna-does/175370/4 "2003-05-15T14:38:59Z")
As I had previously noted in this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=183676), William Safire has recently written a column about this subject. The full text or which is here, [http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/dear\_leader.htm](http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/dear_leader.htm) > [@](#): > > In 1994, Kim Il Sung (Great Kim) died and was succeeded by his son, whom Western writers continued to refer to, tongue-in-cheekily, as _Dear Leader_. But the son, Kim Jong Il (Dear Kim, in Kempton’s simplifying formulation), soon changed his sobriquet to fit his new position. > > He stopped having himself called _Dear Leader_ (in Korean, _ch’inaehanum chidoja_) and assumed his father’s informal title, _Great Leader_ (_widaehan_, ‘‘great,’’ _yongdoja_, ‘‘leader’’). But that was confusing whenever the two men were spoken of in the same sentence. To which one – the late Great Kim or the former Dear Kim, now elevated to titular greatness – did the compound proper noun _Great Leader_ refer? > > Solution: subtly demote the dead Old Man. The deceased Kim Il Sung, formerly _widaehan yongdoja_, is now remembered in North Korea as _widaehan suryong_, ‘‘major chieftain, big boss,’’ important, but a linguistic cut below Great Leader. It is the son, whose leadership title is no longer encumbered with childlike endearment, who has taken his father’s _widaehan yongdoja_, the top of the Communist Korean pecking order. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-answer-some-kim-jong-il-questions-before-the-kcna-does/175370/5 "2003-05-15T14:43:01Z")
And this article mentions his golfing expertise. If he ever wants to leave behind the world of wacko tinhorn dictatordom, he has quite a career ahead of him on the golf circuit: [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1998/int/980413/travel\_watch.the\_weird\_w21.html](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1998/int/980413/travel_watch.the_weird_w21.html)