Reflections on missed opportunities of Kim Il Sung’s death | NK News
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September 16, 2026Sep 16, 2026

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Reflections on missed opportunities of Kim Il Sung’s death

Dr. Mark Barry, who met Kim Il Sung weeks before his death, reflects on missed opportunities following his death

Twenty years ago, on July 8, 1994, Kim Il Sung suddenly died – 17 days before what would have been the first inter-Korean summit. The weeks leading up to Kim’s death – even his funeral itself – were rare moments of opportunity missed by South Korea and the United States. Over two decades, he was first succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Il, until his death in December 2011, and then by his grandson, Kim Jong Un. However one assesses Kim Jong Un, present DPRK regime dynamics and the North’s intentions toward the South, the lost opportunities of a generation