The death of North Korea's controversial leader, Kim Jong Il, was announced earlier this week by DRPK state television. Although North Korean legend claimed that Kim was born on Mount Paekdu — a cherished Korean site — Soviet records indicate that he was born in Siberia in 1941. His father Kim Il Sung was a guerilla fighter who became a communist leader in Korea in 1945 after the defeat of Japan in World War II. After the Korean peninsula was divided into two states — the North, administered by the Soviets — and the South by the United States, the stage was set for the beginning of the Korean War. After the North invaded the South in 1950, three years of bloodshed ensued, killing millions and leaving the peninsula permanently divided to this day. Kim Jong Il became the country's "Dear Leader" in 1994 upon the death of his father. Kim Jong Il was widely criticized throughout the world for devoting much of his country's resources on building up its nuclear arms arsenal, while at the same time his countrymen were suffering from a prolonged famine. His youngest son, Kim Jong Un, has been designated as his successor.

Rogue regime: Kim Jong Il and the looming threat of North Korea by Jasper Becker

Under the loving care of the fatherly leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty by Bradley K. Martin

Kimu Jonʼiru nyūmon: Kita Chōsen shōgunsama no shinjitsu by saku, manga Ri Yūjō ; yaku, kanshū Ri Eiwa

North Korea: another country by Bruce Cumings

Crisis on the Korean peninsula: how to deal with a nuclear North Korea by Michael O'Hanlon and Mike Mochizuki

The world is bigger now: an American journalist's release from captivity in North Korea— a remarkable story of faith, family, and forgiveness by Euna Lee with Lisa Dickey

Somewhere inside: one sister's captivity in North Korea and the other's fight to bring her home by Laura Ling and Lisa Ling

Nothing to envy: ordinary lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

Red rogue: the persistent challenge of North Korea by Bruce E. Bechtol, Jr

Failed diplomacy: the tragic story of how North Korea got the bomb by Charles L. Pritchard

Nuclear showdown: North Korea takes on the world by Gordon G. Chang