sentences:  The Chairman can also appoint or dismiss important national defense officials, grant special pardons, declare a state of emergency and a state of war and issue mobilization order.After his election as Chairman of the National Defense Commission in 1993, Kim Jong-il was re-elected in September 1998, September 2003 and April 2009, and served in this position until his death on 17 December 2011.Following Kim Jong Il's death, the position of Chairman of the National Defense Commission remained vacant from December 2011 until April 2012.