Editing Kim Jong-il (section)

==Biography==
===Childhood===
Soviet records show that Jong-il was born in the village of Vyatskoye, near Khabarovsk, in February 16, 1941, where his father [[Kim Il-sung]] commanded the 1st Battalion of the Soviet 88th Brigade, made up of Chinese and Korean exiles. Jong-il's mother Kim Jong-suk was Il-sung's first wife.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1671983 A Visit to Kim Jong Il's Russian Birthplace], ''NPR Morning Edition''</ref>

However, Jong-il's official biography states he was born in a secret military camp on Baekdu Mountain (Korean: 백두산밀영고향집) in Japanese-occupied Korea on February 16, 1942. Official biographers claim that his birth at Baekdu Mountain was foretold by a swallow, and heralded by the appearance of a double rainbow across the sky over the mountain and a new star in the heavens.<ref name = Paektu></ref><ref name = facts>[https://www.cbsnews.com/media/kim-jong-il-10-weird-facts-propaganda/ Kim Jong Il: 10 weird facts, propaganda], ''CBS News''</ref>

In 1945, Jong-il was 4 years old when [[World War II]] ended and Korea regained independence from Japan. His father returned to Pyongyang that September, and in late November, he returned to Korea through a Soviet ship, landing at Sonbong (선봉군, also Unggi). The family moved into a former Japanese officer's mansion in Pyongyang, with a garden and pool. Jong-il's brother "Shura" Kim (the first Kim Pyong-il, but known by his Russian nickname) drowned there in 1948. Unconfirmed reports suggest that 5-year-old Jong-il might have caused the accident.

In 1949, his mother died in childbirth. Unconfirmed reports suggest that his mother might have been shot and left to bleed to death.

=== Education ===
According to his official biography, Jong-il completed the course of general education between September 1950 and August 1960. He attended Primary School No. 4 and Middle School No. 1 (Namsan Higher Middle School) in Pyongyang. This is contested by foreign academics, who believe he is more likely to have received his early education in the People's Republic of China as a precaution to ensure his safety during the [[Korean War]].

Throughout his schooling, Jong-il was involved in politics. He was active in the Children's Union and the Democratic Youth League (DYL), taking part in study groups of Marxist political theory, communism, and other literature. In September 1957 he became vice-chairman of his middle school's DYL branch (the chairman had to be a teacher). He pursued a program of anti-factionalism and he tried to encourage greater ideological education among his classmates.

Jong-il is also said to have received English language education at the University of Malta in the early 1970s, on his infrequent holidays in Malta as guest of Prime Minister Dom Mintoff.<ref>[https://www.nknews.org/2014/06/kim-jong-ils-unlikely-maltese-mentor-a-secret-military-agreement/ Kim Jong Il’s unlikely Maltese mentor & a secret military agreement], ''NK News''</ref>

The elder Kim had meanwhile remarried and had another son named Kim Pyong-il (named after Jong-il's drowned brother). Since 1988, Pyong-il has served in a series of North Korean embassies in Europe and is the North Korean ambassador to Poland. Foreign commentators suspect that Pyong-il was sent to these distant posts by his father in order to avoid a power struggle between his two sons.