Hoeryŏng ( [ hø.ɾjʌŋ ] ) is a city in North Hamgyŏng Province , North Korea . Kim Jong-il ( , [ kim.dzʌŋ.il ] or [ kim ] [ tsʌŋ.il ] 16 February 1941/1942 -- 17 December 2011 ) was the supreme leader of the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea ( DPRK ) , commonly referred to as North Korea , from 1994 to 2011 . Following Kim 's failure to appear at important public events in 2008 , foreign observers assumed that Kim had either fallen seriously ill or died . Kim Jong-il ( 김종일 , born 11 September 1962 ) , sometimes transliterated Kim Yong-il , is a South Korean retired long jumper , best known for winning two gold medals at the Asian Games . Original Masters of TaeKwonDo is a group of twelve South Korean martial art masters assembled by the Korea Taekwondo Association ( KTA ) in the early 1960s to promote the newly established art of taekwondo .
Kim Jong-il is alive.