Day of the Shining Star
Kim Jong-il was born in February 1941 to Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-suk in Siberia in the Russian Federal Republic, Soviet Union where his father had been in exile because of his guerilla activities. North Korean propaganda, however, dates Kim Jong-il's birth to 16 February 1942 and locates it at the Mount Paektu area in Korea, the mythical place of origin of the Korean people, where Kim Il-sung supposedly ran a guerilla camp. In reality, the guerillas were based in Manchuria at the time and Kim himself had been to the Soviet Far East before and after Kim Jong-il's birth.
Propaganda and Agitation Department
Kim Jong-il had entered service of the PAD in February 1966. He was appointed the head of the PAD's Guidance Section of Culture and Art and Publication and Press section in September 1967 after a meeting in which Kim Il-sung criticized those who were associated with the Kapsan Faction Incident. In 1969, Kim Jong-il was promoted the deputy chief of the entire PAD. During this time he not only designed and issued party IDs and oversaw the handling of portraits of Kim Il-sung. In practice, Kim Jong-il ran the entire department because his nominal superior Kim Kuk-tae suffered from ill health and Yang Hyong-sop, who was tasked with ideological affairs, was engaged with science and education policy instead of propaganda. In September 1973, Kim Jong-il became the chief of the PAD, a position which he held until 1985.