A mourning period was declared after he died and did not officially end until 1997; three years after death. His son, the long-groomed successor, Kim Jong Il succeeded him as supreme leader of North Korea. Kim Jong Il did not become President since Il-Sung was given the honorary title of "'Eternal President"'. Instead he was named General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (leader of the ruling party). North Korea is therefore the world's only country that is technically led by a dead man.