The 17th of December 2011 saw the death of the "Dear Leader" of North Korea, Kim Jong-Il. Reputed to have been the largest single customer of Hennessy Cognac at a time when 2 million members of the North Korean population starved to death Kim - Il maintained his leadership through an elaborate cult of personality. One tactic this diminutive ruler employed, like many dictators before him, was the extravagant and monumental reconstruction of himself as a giant statue. Below is Jong-Il's statue, or rather an image of it from the North Korean military newspaper "Chosun People's Army" as well as a few more examples from around the world;
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| Kim Jong-Il, one of the 'Three Mt. Baekdu Generals' dressed in military uniform at the Revolutionary History Museum of the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces, revealed on 11th May 2010 |
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| Kim Il-Sung, Prime Minister and then President of North Korea and father of Kim Jong-Il, on Mansudae Hill |
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| Stalin Monument, Budapest. A gift from the people of Hungary to Josef Stalin it was torn down only five years later during the October Revolution. |
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| Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq, 1979 - 2003. |
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| Memorial of Kwame Nkruma, leader of Ghana 1952-1966, Accra, Ghana. courtesy of amaah (Flickr) |
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| The golden statue of former Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov at the summit of the Neutrality Arch, Ashgabat. |
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| Statue of the late Hafez Al-Assad, Damascus, Syria |
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| The last remaining statue of General Franco in Spain, removed from Santander in 2008. |
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| Mao, with long hair, Changsha Hunan Province, under construction 2009. |
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| Margaret Thatcher, Members Lobby, House of Commons. |
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