Oh well, looks like I'm out of a job: South Korean 'Dear Leader' double facing grim future after demise of North Korean dictator

'I feel very empty, as a part of me died'
Engraver Kim Young Sik impersonated Kim Jong Il for 10 years
'One day after I got out of the shower and my hair was very curly, people told me I looked like Kim Jong Il'
But received abuse from misguided few thinking he was country's leader

By Lee Moran

Last updated at 11:55 AM on 30th December 2011

He has been the spitting image of Kim Jong Il for more than decade - with his bouffant hairdo, large glasses and olive green suit.

And while he got plenty of abuse in the street from the misguided few who really thought he was the North Korean dictator, South Korean Kim Young Sik was never short of work as his double.

But now it looks like the good times are over and southern Kim will have to hang up his wide-waisted trousers for good following the death of northern Kim.

'People try to comfort me, saying some figures are more famous when they're dead, but I don't think it will be the case with Kim,' said the engraver.

But he added wistfully: 'I feel very empty, as if a part of me died.'

Look-a-like: South Korean engraver Kim Young Sik has impersonated Kim Jong Il for more than a decade

Spot the difference: Kim Young Sik (left) fears his career as a look-a-like for Kim Jong Il (right) is over

Sik, 61, said he never dreamt of becoming a part-time communist ruler and fell into the role by accident.

He said: 'One day after I got out of the shower and my hair was very curly, people told me I looked like Kim Jong Il.'

When then-South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung began the Sunshine Policy of reconciliation with the North in the late 1990s he started to be noticed and was invited to appear on television.

In mourning: The father-of-two, who has moonlighted as his look-a-like for more than a decade, said he felt a part of him had died

Who's who: Kim Young Sik (top)is the spitting image of North Korea's departed leader Kim Jong Il

Since then he has enjoyed an illustrious career appearing on Japanese TV, in a Middle East chocolate commercial, and in 1995 South Korean film The Rose of Sharon Blooms Again.