Kim Jong-il was a fine leader to the people of North Korea.

• Able to advance nation into modern times with nuclear weapons
• Nuclear arsenal helped North Korea
• Inspired nation and made him popular to his people
• Art progress in his nation
• Wanted to continue "progress" after he was gone
• Food programs were designed to make nation "food independent"

Able to Advance nation into modern times with nuclear weapons

North Korea DID NOT NEED ANY NUCLEAR WEAPONS. Yes, we all know North Korea is not well liked on the international spotlight, but it has a strong military without nuclear weapons when you consider the size of its army. It is the fourth largest military in the world with over 1.2 million armed personnel, and although oudated, has a very important, large ally ---China. China is right next to North Korea, and is on of the five permanent U.N. members that makes it very significant in international affairs. By participating in the pursuit of nuclear weapons, which I have shown was unnecessary, Kim Jong-il chose the choice to put many of his people into famine for no real reason. This is not a virtue of a fine leader, to jeopardize the lives of millions just to gain some more recognition in the international spotlight when they already have a large recognition on the international stage, because of infamous reasons.

Inspired nation and made him popular to his people

This is does not make Kim Jone-il a fine leader to the people of North Korea. People did not feel truly secure and confident of prosperity. However, the state-controlled media of North Korea told North Koreans that virtually everything they have has come from their "Dear Leader". Also, personality cult driven propaganda has been attacking citizens there their whole lives. A cult of personality of glorifing "Dear Leader" has caused people to become brainwashed into thinking their leader is so dear even though its nation is a dire prospects of a better future.

Also, if the cameras are rolling and everyone else is crying, and a person is not, that would be punished by something known as elimination or being secretly moved from society there. North Korea is known for being one of the worst nations in THE WORLD for having the worst human rights records.

Art progress in his nation

Sure, there was art progress in his nation. Kim Jong-il may have encouraged the expansion of the arts in the country. However, all of the arts are controlled by the government. So, true feelings of the populace that may of been really shown in true art was not shown in North Korea, since Kim Jong-il made the state continue in making the state control the arts. Therefore, this point is irrelevant, as are the others.

Legacy and "Prosperity" will live on after him

Since you apparently don't know what prosperity is, I will define it:

Prosperity: A successful, flourishing, or thriving condition, especially in economic aspects, good fortune.

Facts:

North Korea is one of the world's most centrally directed and least open economies, and faces chronic economic problems. Its industrial condition is nearly beyond repair as a result of years of underinvestment, shortage of spare parts, and maintenance. LARGE SCALE MILITARY SPENDING has drawn off resources needed for civilian consumption. Industrial and power output has stagnated for years at a fraction of pre 1990 levels: BEFORE Kim Jong-il was the fine leader, illustrating EVEN MORE his POOR leadership. Large scale food deliveries to North Korea has allowed N. Korea to escape widespread STARVATION, but poor living conditions and malnutrition are still widespread.

Although Kim Jong-il allowed private Farmer's markets in 2002, in 2005, the government tried to end this by forbidding private sales of grains and again making the central government control the food supply.

The per capita GDP, is only $1800 per year. Imagine surving on this. The U.S. per capita GDP is around $46,000 - $47,500. This further demonstrates that the wellbeing of N. Korean citizens is NOT well.

Also tens of thousands of North Koreans cross into China each year to escape famine and political oppression, showing CLEARLY that Kim Jong-il has not been a fine leader. For an example, under Bill Clinton, in 2000, when at one point for example his approval rating was at 66% you didn't see thousands of people escaping into Canada or Mexico. Bill Clinton was a good leader, and America was a beacon of hope, not an island of despair like North Korea is. Even when George W. Bush was president and had approval ratings of 18%, you STILL didn't see thousands or more escaping into other nations to escape DEATH. This clearly proves that Kim Jong-il was a poor leader since people wanted to escape his wrath and brainwashing puppets.

Human trafficking: North Korea is a country where men, women, and children are trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation.

Also, North Korea has been receiving food shipments from the international community to prevent starvation of North Korea's populace.


Conclusion:

Kim Jong-il was a poor leader to the people of North Korea. Under Kim Jong-il, N. Korea's industry has significantly declined. "Dear Leader" has also not put ANY significant efforts to reduce human trafficking in his nation where thousands, if not more are exploited for labor or sexual commercial reasons. Tens of thousands cross into China each year to escape from Kim Jong-il's political oppression and the famine of N. Korea which Kim has not heavily worked on. Instead of making his nation stable with real food and making itself truly independent, he devoted a large chunk of his nation's economy to nuclear weapons which WAS A BAD CHOICE for N. Korea and had no real useful reason, China is a defender of N. Korea already. NO art progress has occured under Kim's leadership, because all of the art is controlled by the state. Kim Jong-il put no lasting market reforms into his nation's economy. What good has truly came to the nation of N. Korea during Kim Jong-il's tenure? I would like to see any, because barely if any progress was made while starvation, malnutrition, political oppression, and economic depression was prevalent. These DO NOT fill the virtues of a good leader! I hope my opponent shows me a true reason soon, since so far, he has provided no true information. Thank you.

Sources:

The World Factbook (App Store app)

http://en.wikipedia.org...

http://www.nationmaster.com...

http://www.time.com...

http://dictionary.reference.com...

Yes, it is obvious information that we don't know much about North Korea since North Korea is one of the most isolated nations and has the most repressive government in the world. I willl expand later.

I will make my case more clear.

I will also be more clear in my sources this time around, the information that you were likely looking for on my source for Wikipedia was likely from the Time source or the World Factbook source. Regardless, all of my sources were solid.

Kim Jong-il was not a good leader to the people of North Korea:

• Industry heavily eroded - to point that it's beyond repair
• Tens of thousands or more people are forcefully engaged human trafficking against their will
• Over 2/3 of children are severly malnurished or underweight
• Did not seek more freedoms for the people of N.Korea
• Put military pride over his people's welfare
• Repressive dictator

"Nuclear weapons are essential in a military"

North Korea having nukes is useless for national defense. Nukes may provide a psychological sense of security, because of deterrence, there are no guarantees in this idea will successfully prevent any attack. Nuclear weapons are not cost effective either. Nuclear weapons are unfeasible for N. Korea as well. Since N. Korea is already cash strapped, they will have to protect the nukes against terrorism and nuclear annihilation. [1]

More importantly, assume N. Korea wants to attack S. Korea. Using nuclear weapons is unfeasible. As a defender of N. Korea, China would abandon N. Korea to help improve their own (China's) image around the world, because a poor Chinese image around the world would reduce their money from exports, and hurt the economy of China. [2] [3] Also, after a nuclear weapon is used, it is gone. Making them is completely unfeasible, since they will probably never be used. If you still defend this point, you are saying that Kim Jong-il made the right decision to pursue nuclear weapons because they will never be used, are dangerous to N. Korea's own security because of internal threats, and that losing China's support is worth it. It's only one ally - your only ally by the way. North Korea can afford to lose nearly all of their world trade (80%) and nearly half its food supply. China doesn't want a nuclear N. Korea either. [2] [3]

If Kim Jong-il really wanted a stronger military that would be useful, Kim could've bought tanks and other modern military equipment from another (likely Communist) nation. This would of been more practical, for one reason is that it would of been more affordable leaving more funds for the civilians of N. Korea.

" Kim Jong-il had to continue personality cult"

I have researched this point and see that yes his father had a more extreme personality cult. That is why I do not include this point on my side of the debate (on top). However, Kim Jong-il could of helped his citizens by making introducing the freedom of press, and if Kim Jong-il was a good leader, doing all he could to maximize REAL prosperity, he would have nothing to worry about!

"Reiterating Kim Jong-il's 'People problem' "

I guess that Kim Jong-il doesn't care heavily about his citizens. North Korea is likely the most repressive of all governments in the world. North Korean people are heavily brutalized as well. Many human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch have put N. Korea in an extremely unfavorable position. [4] [5] N. Korea, and former Kim Jong-il, have done nothing or barely anything to reduce human trafficking [8].

Kim Jong-il operated death camps. [6] So did Hitler. Kim's death camps hold hundreds of thousand of inmates, about 0.85% of the total population. Now, what was the main reason for these huge numbers? Listening to music, and other nation's culture. [12] [13] A leader that denies basic freedoms for his citizens is not a good leader. However, in the death camps, medical experimentation, forced labor, and forced abortions, and growing their own food with none suppled is the case. A leader that locks up his citizens for no valid reason is not a good leader. Hitler did the same to large numbers of his citizens, and he is regarded negatively in that nation as well.

Industry and Other

Under Kim Jong-il's tenure as "Dear Leader", industry in North Korea declined. It is now nearly beyond repair. No valuable industry is not a good trait in a nation, it reduces a nation's independence. [8]. You also say that foreign aid helped his nation while military building. Well, sure this was something positive for a poor leader, however, this was inconsistent. At some points, Kim Jong-il denied food assistance entirely. This was not a good choice. The total result is however that Kim Jong-il DENIED FOOD INDEPENDENCE for the most part for his citizens. [10] Also, 2/3 of all children are still severely malnurished or underweight. Much of the nation's economy is devoted to its military, which could of been cut and the funds given towards food resources. [8] [11] Overall, Kim Jong-il was not helping his nation enough to the extent he could of easily done. He has done some, but nearly not enough. As a result, over 3.5 MILLION people died during the 1990's during Kim's tenure. [10]

Conclusion

Kim Jong-il was a poor leader. He may of had one or too good points (food delivery and temporary private markets - that were later banned), but Kim Jong-il has been harmful for his nation, devoting not enough resources to his nation's infrastructure and welfare. Thousands and thousands have been forced into human trafficking, N. Korea's industry is much weaker, millions have died due to starvation, and over 2/3 of all children are severly malnurished or underweight. Kim also didn't give his people freedoms and has an oppressive regime that gave its people basically no freedoms.

Sources:

[1] http://www.wagingpeace.org...
[2] http://data.worldbank.org...
[3] http://www.cfr.org...
[4] http://web.archive.org...
[5] http://www.hrw.org...
[6] http://www.huffingtonpost.com...
[8] The World Factbook (App)
[10]- http://www.iie.com...
[11] http://en.wikipedia.org...
[12] http://lcweb2.loc.gov...(DOCID+kp0163)
[13] http://www.iie.com...
[14] http://www.amnesty.org...