Kim Jong-il, the late North Korean leader, will be laid to rest in a two-day funeral during Wednesday and Thursday.
His policy of "songun" or "military first" was intended to make the nation a nuclear power even at the cost of his people's lives. Thousands of North Koreans died of famine and malnutrition after Kim Jong-il assumed office. But over the years, Kim Jong-il was able to build a cult of personality around him and the local media always tried to mythify his acts.
Song Byeok, an artist who was once Kim Jong-il's staunch supporter, has captured some rare aspects of the "Dear Leader"; his whims, fancies and even his perversions. Byeok later defected to south Korea and produced several satirical paintings on Kim Jong-il, one of history's most notorious dictators.
Byeok's strokes capture certain darker traits of Kim Jong-il's personality here: