Kim Jong Il, the second-generation North Korean dictator who defied global condemnation to build nuclear weapons while his people starved, has died, Yonhap News reported. He was 70.
The news came in a radio broadcast at noon local time, Yonhap reported, citing North Korea’s official media. Kim probably had a stroke in August 2008 and may have also contracted pancreatic cancer, according to South Korean news reports.
The son of Kim Il Sung, North Korea’s founder, Kim was a chain-smoking recluse who ruled for 17 years after coming to power in July 1994 and resisted opening up to the outside world in order to protect his regime. The potential succession of his little-known third son, Kim Jong Un, threatens to trigger a dangerous period for the Korean peninsula, where 1.7 million troops from the two Koreas and the U.S. square off every day.
“Kim Jong Il inherited a genius for playing the weak hand and by keeping the major powers nervous, continuing his father’s tradition of turning Korea’s history of subservience on its head,” said Michael Breen, the Seoul-based author of “Kim Jong Il: North Korea’s Dear Leader,” a biography. “We have entered an uncertain moment with North Korea.”
Lampooned by foreign cartoonists and filmmakers for his weight, his zippered jumpsuits, his aviator sunglasses and his bouffant hairdo, Kim cut a more serious figure in his rare dealings with world leaders outside the Communist bloc.
Words for Albright
“If there’s no confrontation, there’s no significance to weapons,” he told Madeleine Albright, then U.S. secretary of state, in a 2000 meeting in Pyongyang.
Those words took on greater significance in 2009 as Kim defied threats of United Nations sanctions to test a second nuclear device and a ballistic missile, technically capable of striking Alaska.
The following year North Korea lashed out militarily, prompting stern warnings from the U.S. and South Korea. An international investigation blamed Kim’s regime for the March 2010 sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan that killed 46 sailors.
Eight months later North Korea shelled a South Korean island, killing two soldiers, two civilians and setting homes ablaze. The act followed reports by an American scientist that the country had made “stunning” advances to its uranium- enrichment program.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Charles W. Stevens at cstevens@bloomberg.net
The world weeps for the passing of Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il. We must now carry forth the banner of creepy anti-revisionist personality cults without him.
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#2 Re: Dearest Leader Departs for Autarky in the Sky
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 11:05 pm
by frigidmagi
Good riddance to bad rubbish. Now to see what Kim Jong Un is made of. I should note that dictatorships rarely last past the 3rd generation in modern times.
On a serious note, South Korea has gone to full military alert.
#3 Re: Dearest Leader Departs for Autarky in the Sky
Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 12:03 pm
by Derek Thunder
It may sound somewhat ridiculous but in a sense I actually feel somewhat inadequate compared to Kim Jong Un. I mean, I'm about his age (a few years younger than him, though his exact birthdate is unknown), and yet I neither control my own country nor do I have an embryonic cult of personality built around me.
I think I know what my new year's resolution is going to be!
#4 Re: Dearest Leader Departs for Autarky in the Sky
Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 12:22 pm
by LadyTevar
I''m not surprised SoKorea is on full alert. There's usually been a push against them whenever something Big happens in NoKorea (Usually NoKorea trying to 'save face' when something they did fucked up; ie Missle launchs that failed).
Interesting how they're wording the cause of death, tho. A collapse after 'great stress from over-work', according to one story I've seen. It is possible it was simply another stroke, as there's been no reliable proof that he had cancer.
As for Kim Jong Un, I have hear some news reports that imply he has a Western Education, supposedly in England. Other than that information on him is sketchy at best, no more than rumor at worst. He's a true WildCard.
#5 Re: Dearest Leader Departs for Autarky in the Sky
Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 12:35 pm
by Charon
Frankly I'm a little disappointed in North Korea's story about his death. I mean really guys? He collapsed after the stress of over-work? That's so... pedestrian. I was kind of hoping for died while averting an earthquake, or fighting cyborg bears, or from "Being too awesome".
#6 Re: Dearest Leader Departs for Autarky in the Sky
Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 1:59 pm
by B4UTRUST
Too soon?
#7 Re: Dearest Leader Departs for Autarky in the Sky
Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 3:50 pm
by rhoenix
I think "collapsed due to too much work" is a way to try to relate Dear Leader to the rest of the populace - who are used to collapsing due to too much work.
As for Kim Jong Un... yeah, we'll see.
#8 Re: Dearest Leader Departs for Autarky in the Sky
Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 12:28 am
by The Minx
Most likely the military are the ones who are really in charge over there, though I hope I'm wrong and this will mean hope for change in North Korea.
#9 Re: Dearest Leader Departs for Autarky in the Sky
Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 4:43 pm
by Batman
The military being in charge isn't necessarily a bad thing. That's how Turkey became a mostly secular country. Can't blame South Korea for being wary, either. Troubled dictatorships have a tendency to lash out at their neighbours to distract the populace from their internal problems
Oh, and B4? That tombstone made me laugh out loud. Thank you
#10 Re: Dearest Leader Departs for Autarky in the Sky
Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 8:41 pm
by rhoenix
kotaku.com wrote:Kim Jong-il passed away this week—something almost predicted by Homefront, a video game. The question now is: what's next? Rather, who.
Kim Jong-un, who also appeared in Homefront, will be the dictator's successor. Not much is known about Kim Jong-un. Photos of him did not surface until recently, which is why an actor originally played him in Homefront. Only after his appearance was made public, did the game's developers insert his likeness.
As Kotaku previously posted, the Dear Leader's oldest son, Kim Jong-nam, is "too much of a playboy," to replace Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-chol is, according to a Wikileak cable, "more interested in video games" than governing.
According to the New York Post, Kim Jong-un attended a Swiss boarding school under an alias and can speak German, French, and English. According to classmates, Kim Jong-un was shy and awkward around females. He loved reading Japanese manga and playing video games.
Now dubbed the "Great Successor", his dreams apparently didn't involve taking over a dictatorship, but something far more normal: playing for the Chicago Bulls. A classmate at the International School of Bern told Japan's NHK, "He yearned to become a pro basketball player in the United States."
Seeing how tense the relationship is between Japan and North Korea, it's fascinating that someone who leads a country that teaches its citizens to despise Japan and the U.S. also enjoys manga and shooting hoops.
So if North Korea invades Japan or the US, you'll know what Kim Jong-un has come for: the comics and the basketballs.
*laughing*
Wow... this could get interesting, alright. Let's see if he keeps the waterslides on his new palace.
