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PHOTOS: Kim Jong-il and 10 of the world’s saddest dictators

Poor Kim Jong-il. The life of a God-king is so rough!

With the death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, Metro is reprinting our roundup of sad dictator photos, originally published April 12, 2011.

Metro’s erstwhile colleague Josh Sanburn pointed us to a delightful picture of former Ivory Coast dictator Laurent Gbagbo on NYTimes.com yesterday, in which the deposed strongman looks like a child whose candy has just been stolen. In honor of Glum Gbagbo, we present 10 of the world’s saddest dictators:

Than Shwe of Burma will thank you politely for your Christmas gift, but
inside he won’t be happy about it. (Photo: Feng Li/AFP/Getty Images)

Someone told Laurent Gbagbo that he couldn’t go outside until he finished his homework. (Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

Muammar Gaddafi wept when he saw the ending of “Toy Story 3.” (Photo: Jacky Naegelin/AFP/Getty Images)

Belarus’ Alexander Lucashenko never told her he loved her until it was too late. (Photo: Viktor Drachev/AFP/Getty Images)

Kim Jong-Il can’t believe that this is what his job comes down to: Looking at pieces of ceramic. (Photo: KNS/AFP/Getty Images)

Hosni Mubarak is going to vomit if he has to listen to these idiots for five more minutes. (Photo: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images)

Syria’s Bashar al-Assad is very sorry to hear about your cat. (Photo: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)

He has it all, but Robert Mugabe still feels empty inside. (Photo: Desmond Kwande/AFP/Getty Images)

Don’t tell Saddam Hussein that the Boomers didn’t really change anything. (Photo: Getty Images)

Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir can hear the way you guys talk about him. (Photo: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images)

And now, as a bonus, here’s one happy dictator!

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan loves having fun with his friends! (Photo: Mykola/AFP/Getty Images)


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