![]() Official posthumous portrait | |
Date | 8–17 July 1994 |
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Location | Pyongyang, North Korea |
Participants | Kim Jong Il and North Korean military, government and Korean Workers' Party elites |
History of North Korea | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Kim Il Sung died of a heart attack on the early morning of 8 July 1994 at age 82. North Korea's government did not report the death for more than 34 hours after it occurred. An official mourning period was declared from 8–17 July, during which the national flag was flown at half mast throughout the country, and all forms of amusement and dancing were prohibited.[1]
Radio Pyongyang reported that Kim had died from a stroke.[2] In the years prior to his death, he had been receiving treatment for diabetes as well as the hardening of arteries in his heart.[citation needed] His son Kim Jong Il was announced as North Korea's next leader with the title of "The Great Successor" (Korean: 위대한 계승자) that same day marked the start of North Korea becoming a dynasty. Seventeen years later, he died on 17 December 2011 of the same cause of death as his father and Jong Il's demise was announced two days later.