Song of General Kim Jong Il

Song of General Kim Jong Il
Chosŏn'gŭl	김정일장군의 노래
Hancha	金正日將軍의 노래
Revised Romanization	Gim Jeong-il Janggun ui Norae
McCune–Reischauer	Kim Chŏng-il Changgun ŭi Norae

The "Song of General Kim Jong Il" (Korean: 김정일장군의 노래 Kimjongil janggunui nolae) is a marching song from North Korea. It was composed by Sol Myong-sun (설명순, 1936–2012^[1]) and the words were written by Sin Un-ho (신운호, 1941 – March 24, 2020) in 1997.^[2]^[3]

Instrumental sample

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The song praises the "Eternal General Secretary", Kim Jong Il (who ruled from 1994 until 2011) as a part of his cult of personality. During the presidency of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il helped to run his father's own personality cult. Although the "Song of General Kim Jong Il" is not as widely popular as the "Song of General Kim Il Sung" (nor was his cult as large as his father's), it is also played regularly in North Korea.

The song is played by the North Korean state television at the start of broadcasts each day.^[4] It was also played after the telecast of Kim Jong Il's memorial service on December 29, 2011. Pyongyang FM Broadcasting [ko] also plays a chime version of the first two lines of the song as its interval signal at the start of broadcasts.^{[citation needed]}

According to North Korean sources, their satellite Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2, supposedly launched in a test on April 5, 2009, is broadcasting this song amongst other data.^[5]

An English version has been recorded by Ritta Dimek.^[6]