As South Korea's president, he traveled to Pyongyang in 2000 to meet Kim Jong Il in a historic meeting.
Pyongyang increased its weapons testing in recent months after hard-line figures associated with its military gained power in the country's authoritarian regime following the illness of dictator Kim Jong Il in August and September.
Mr. Iijima was a top adviser to former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, and was deeply involved in organizing his visit to North Korea for talks with then-leader Kim Jong Il in the early 2000s, which led to the release of several Japanese abductees.
Since the death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il in Dec. 2011, the world is looking at the country differently.
Kim's policy of detente culminated when he met North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in June 2000, becoming the first South Korean leader to do so since the Korean War unofficially ended in 1953.
She travelled to Pyongyang in 2002 and held private talks with the late Kim Jong Il, the father of Kim Jong Un, and her gifts to Kim Jong Il are showcased in a museum of gifts to the North Korean leaders.
In Pyongyang, state television showed pictures of Kim Jong-un in the control room for the launch, and another of him celebrating with members of the military after it successfully went up.
The Jongs in Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Pil, for example, are two distinct characters in Korean.
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Voters in Mr Kim Jong Pil's stronghold in the Chungchong region, however, appear to believe that there is indeed a conspiracy and are rallying behind him.
Kim Jong-un took over as leader of North Korea after the death of his father Kim Jong-il in December last year.
America and Japan share an obvious interest in persuading Kim Jong Il not to lob missiles in their direction.
The Leap Day agreement seemed to send a clear signal that Kim Jong Un intended to see through the easing of tensions with America that North Korea was negotiating in Kim Jong Il's last days.
Rice also spoke to Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, who met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang Thursday.
Kim, who is believed to be about 29 years old, assumed power after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in late 2011.
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Last Friday, Mickey Mouse, Winnie The Pooh, Dumbo, Snow White, and Tigger performed for Kim Jong-Un in a rather unusual concert, in Pyongyang.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry says Beijing is unaware of South Korea Chosun Ilbo's claims of slush funds linked with Kim Jong-un in Shanghai and other Chinese cities.
But Kim Jong Un operates in the same environment that led his father and grandfather to conclude that nuclear weapons are the best way to safeguard the Kim dynasty.
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By contrast, during Bill Clinton's recent visit to Pyongyang, the former president made no such public show of solidarity with the millions enslaved by Kim Jong-Il in North Korea.
"There's not a single moment I can point to where Kim Jong Il succeeded in making life better for North Korean people, " said Gordon Flake, executive director of the Mansfield Foundation, a Washington-based independent organization focused on Asian and U.S. issues.
It's time to take a deep breath and consider what we have learned so far in this "crisis, " lest the combined effects of such hyperbole lead the Bush Administration to do what it has pretty much refused to do to this point: embrace and prop-up one of the most odious regimes on the planet -- that of Kim Jong-Il in North Korea.
February's nuclear test was the first of its kind under new leader Kim Jong-un, who took over the leadership after his father Kim Jong-il died in December 2011.
Kim Jong-un took over as leader of North Korea after his father Kim Jong-il died in December 2011.
Promoting technology and sports are two major policy priorities of Kim Jong Un, who took power in December 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il.
There was little to fault in the way Kim Jong Il comported himself at the summit (although commentators in Seoul did wryly note that during one celebration he slung back 10 glasses of wine to five for President Kim).
The incident comes at a delicate time for North Korea's authoritarian regime, which is seeking to build support and legitimacy for a new dictator, Kim Jong Eun, who took control of the country in December after the death of his father Kim Jong Il.
Things would be a little less dire had Kim Jong Un, the young dictator and Great Successor to his father, Kim Jong Il, who died in December, not reneged on an agreement reached in February with America, which had offered food.
Even more important, he has been seen in Kim Jong Il's entourage when he met with Americans.
Kim Han-sol is believed to live with his father, Kim Jong-nam, in China and also in the former Portuguese territory of Macau.
Those demonstrations are organized by International ANSWER, a front of the Workers World Party, which openly supports the Kim Jong-il regime in North Korea.
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