Kim Jong-il, also romanised as Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Irsenovich Kim, 16 February 1941; official biography claims 1942 – 17 December 2011), was the supreme leader of North Korea (DPRK) from 1994 to 2011. He succeeded his father and founder of the DPRK Kim Il-sung following the elder Kim's death in 1994. Kim Jong-il was the General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea, and the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, the fourth-largest standing army in the world. He continued his fathers rabid hold on the nation of North Korea, where the citizens have virtually no rights whatsoever. He, however, also holds the strongest of all militaries and is still generally less brutal than his father was.