Kim Jong-il: Difference between revisions

Line 58:

====Foreign relations====

[[File:Kim_Jong-il_Russian.png|thumb|left|195px|Jong-il with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2001]]

In 1998, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung implemented the "Sunshine Policy" to improve North-South relations and to allow South Korean companies to start projects in the North. Jong-il announced plans to import and develop new technologies to develop North Korea's fledgling software industry. As a result of the new policy, the Kaesong Industrial Park was constructed in 2003 just north of the de-militarized zone, with the planned participation of 250 South Korean companies, employing 100,000 North Koreans, by 2007. However, by March 2007, the Park contained only 21 companies — employing 12,000 North Korean workers. As of May 2010, the park employs over 40,000 North Korean workers.

[[File:Jong-il_talking_with_Vladimir_Putin_during_their_2001_meeting.png|thumb|193px|Jong-il talking with Vladimir Putin during their 2001 meeting]]

In 1994, North Korea and the United States signed an Agreed Framework which was designed to freeze and eventually dismantle the North's nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid in producing two power-generating nuclear reactors. In 2002, Jong-il's government admitted to having produced nuclear weapons since the 1994 agreement. Jong-il's regime argued the secret production was necessary for security purposes — citing the presence of United States-owned nuclear weapons in South Korea and the new tensions with the United States under George Bush. On October 9, 2006, North Korea's Korean Central News Agency announced that it had successfully conducted an underground nuclear test.

@@ Line 58: / Line 58: @@
 ====Foreign relations====
+[[File:Kim_Jong-il_Russian.png|thumb|left|195px|Jong-il with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2001]]
 In 1998, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung implemented the "Sunshine Policy" to improve North-South relations and to allow South Korean companies to start projects in the North. Jong-il announced plans to import and develop new technologies to develop North Korea's fledgling software industry. As a result of the new policy, the Kaesong Industrial Park was constructed in 2003 just north of the de-militarized zone, with the planned participation of 250 South Korean companies, employing 100,000 North Koreans, by 2007. However, by March 2007, the Park contained only 21 companies — employing 12,000 North Korean workers. As of May 2010, the park employs over 40,000 North Korean workers.
+[[File:Jong-il_talking_with_Vladimir_Putin_during_their_2001_meeting.png|thumb|193px|Jong-il talking with Vladimir Putin during their 2001 meeting]]
 In 1994, North Korea and the United States signed an Agreed Framework which was designed to freeze and eventually dismantle the North's nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid in producing two power-generating nuclear reactors. In 2002, Jong-il's government admitted to having produced nuclear weapons since the 1994 agreement. Jong-il's regime argued the secret production was necessary for security purposes — citing the presence of United States-owned nuclear weapons in South Korea and the new tensions with the United States under George Bush. On October 9, 2006, North Korea's Korean Central News Agency announced that it had successfully conducted an underground nuclear test.