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KIM JONG IL: 1942-2011 -- North Korea's Communist leader Kim Jong Il, whose nearly two-decade reign of power was marked by nuclear threats against his neighbors and a stifling of freedoms for his own people, died on Dec. 18, 2011. Kim Jong Il took over the leadership of North Korea in 1994 when his father, Kim Il Song, founder of the communist nation, died of a heart attack. North Korea invaded the South Korea in 1950, triggering a three-year war that left millions of civilians dead and divided North and South by the Demilitarized Zone. During his 17 years in power, Kim Jong Il fortified North Korea's ties with allies China and Russia. North Korea's 'Supreme Commander' passed away in Pyongyang at the age of 69.