Death and state funeral of Kim Il Sung in the context of "Kim Il Sung"

The Juche calendar (Korean: 주체력) was the system of year-numbering used in North Korea between 1997 and 2024. Named after a key concept of North Korea's state ideology, it begins with the birth of founding father Kim Il Sung, whose birth year, 1912 in the Gregorian calendar, is Juche 1 in the Juche calendar. The calendar was adopted in 1997, three years after the death of Kim Il Sung. It has been reported that as of October 2024 the calendar is no longer in use, in favour of the Gregorian calendar.

Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician and dictator who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994 until his death in 2011. Posthumously, Kim Jong Il was declared Eternal General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).

In the early 1980s, Kim had become the heir apparent for the leadership of North Korea, thus being established the Kim family, and he assumed important posts in party and army organizations. Kim succeeded his father and founder of North Korea, Kim Il Sung, following his death in 1994. Kim was the General Secretary of the WPK, WPK Presidium, WPK Central Military Commission, Chairman of the National Defence Commission (NDC) of North Korea and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army (KPA), the fourth-largest standing army in the world.

The president of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Korean: 조선민주주의인민공화국 주석) was the head of state of North Korea from 1972 to 1998. The position was only occupied by Kim Il Sung from 1972 until his death in 1994. Aside from being president, Kim was also the General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the National Defence Commission (until 1993) and Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army (until 1991).

Following his death in 1994, the position remained vacant until 1998 and his son Kim Jong Il was not given the title to succeed him. A constitutional amendment in 1998 named Kim Il Sung as the eternal president and abolished the position.

The cult of personality surrounding the Kim family has existed in North Korea for decades and can be found in many examples of North Korean culture. Although not acknowledged by the North Korean government, many defectors and Western visitors state there are often stiff penalties for those who criticize or do not show "proper" respect for the former leaders of the country, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, officially referred to as "eternal leaders of Korea". The personality cult began soon after Kim Il Sung took power in 1948, and was greatly expanded after his death in 1994.

While other countries have had cults of personality to various degrees, the pervasiveness and extreme nature of North Korea's personality cult surpasses that of both its original influences, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. The cult is also marked by the intensity of the people's feelings for and devotion to their leaders, and the key role played by a Confucianized ideology of familism both in maintaining the cult and thereby in sustaining the regime itself. The North Korean cult of personality is a large part of Juche, the official ideology of the country.

The Kim family, officially the Mount Paektu Bloodline (Korean: 백두혈통), named for Paektu Mountain, in the ideological discourse of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), and often referred to as the Kim dynasty after the end of the Cold War, is the three-generation lineage of North Korean leadership, descending from the country's founder and first leader, Kim Il Sung. Kim Il Sung came to rule the north in 1948, after the end of Japanese rule split the region in 1945. Following his death in 1994, Kim Il Sung's role as supreme leader was passed to his son, Kim Jong Il, and then in 2011 to his grandson, Kim Jong Un. The three have each served as leaders of the Workers' Party of Korea (titled as Chairman from 1948 to 1966, General Secretary from 1966 to 2012, First Secretary from 2012 to 2016, Chairman again from 2016 to 2021, and General Secretary again since 2021) and as North Korea's supreme leaders since the state's establishment in 1948.

The North Korean government denies that there is a personality cult surrounding the Kim family, describing the people's devotion to the family as a personal manifestation of support for their nation's leadership. The Kim family has been described as a de facto absolute monarchy or hereditary dictatorship.