The Dictator, the Art Connoisseur

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, who died on Saturday at the age of 69, leaves behind a grieving nation, a green successor, and some truly terrible cinema.

The fate of what seemed to be Kim Jong-il’s favorite painting—a mural depicting a choppy sea—is not yet on the media radar. When presidents and other world leaders came calling, Kim and his visiting dignitaries often posed for stiff-backed portraits in front of this nautical mural.

In August 2009, Bill Clinton landed in Pyongyang to secure the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, two American journalists who had been held for months in North Korea. But before they could depart, Clinton and his entourage had to sit for a portrait with Kim Jong-il. This may have been the last time that the painting was dusted off for foreign visitors—at least, it’s the last one Slate has discovered.

Correction: This article originally misstated the name of one of the two American journalists held in North Korea in 2009. It was Laura Ling, not her sister Lisa Ling, who was detained along with Euna Lee.