Kim Il-sung died in 1994 but remains the constitutionally designated Eternal President of North Korea. No other leader in modern history has achieved anything comparable — ruling from beyond the grave through a constitution amended to make a dead man the permanent head of state. The personality cult he built during forty-six years of absolute power became so total that it survived his death and transferred intact to his son and grandson.

This episode traces Kim from his guerrilla days fighting the Japanese through the Korean War, the construction of the most isolated state on earth, and the dynastic succession that created the world’s only communist hereditary monarchy.

• Kim’s anti-Japanese guerrilla career and the Soviet backing that installed him in power
• The Korean War, the destruction of the peninsula, and the armistice that froze the conflict
• The Juche ideology, the personality cult, and the total control of North Korean society
• The dynastic succession plan that passed power to Kim Jong-il and created a hereditary communist state