http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzOz6OCzKGc
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| Kim Jong-un and Kim Jong-il, his father, on 25 Octover 2011 (Photo: KCNA/Returs) |
'Nobody can be sure what change will be like ... We don't really know who has power, who doesn't have power,' British ex-diplomat says
19 Dec 2011
NBC, msnbc.com and news services
PYONGYANG, North Korea — Kim Jong Il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic longtime leader, has died of heart failure. He was 69.
In a "special broadcast" Monday from the North Korean capital, state media said Kim died of a heart ailment on a train due to a "great mental and physical strain" on Saturday during a "high intensity field inspection." It said an autopsy was done on Sunday and "fully confirmed" the diagnosis.
A spokesperson at the Unification Ministry confirmed Kim's death to NBC News.
Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008, but he had appeared relatively vigorous in photos and video from recent trips to China and Russia and in numerous trips around the country carefully documented by state media. The communist country's "Dear Leader" — reputed to have had a taste for cigars, cognac and gourmet cuisine — was believed to have had diabetes and heart disease.
"It is the biggest loss for the party ... and it is our people and nation's biggest sadness," an anchorwoman clad in black Korean traditional dress said in a voice choked with tears. She said the nation must "change our sadness to strength and overcome our difficulties."
NBC News' Julie Yoo reported that South Korea put its military on alert and President Lee Myung-bak convened a national security council meeting after the news of Kim's death.
President Barack Obama was monitoring reports of the death of the North Korean leader, the White House said Sunday night, adding that U.S. officials were in contact with allies in South Korea and Japan.
"We remain committed to stability on the Korean peninsula, and to the freedom and security of our allies," the White House said in a statement.
In Japan, the government said in a statement on Monday that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told ministers and officials to boost information-gathering on the future of North Korea and to be ready for the unexpected, Reuters reported.
The news came as North Korea prepared for a hereditary succession.
Kim Jong Il inherited power after his father, revered North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, died in 1994. In September 2010, Kim Jong Il introduced his third son, the twenty-something Kim Jong Un, as his successor, putting him in high-ranking posts.
Traffic in the North Korean capital was moving as usual Monday, but people in the streets were in tears as they learned the news of Kim's death. A foreigner contacted at Pyongyang's Koryo Hotel said hotel staff were in tears.
Jim Hoare, a British former diplomat who served in North Korea after the countries established relations in 2000, told Sky News that Kim's death left considerable uncertainty.
"Nobody can be sure what change will be like," he said. "We don't really know who has power, who doesn't have power. We're always guessing."
Video: Even in death, details of Kim Jong Il's life elusive (on this page)
Hoare said that television footage showing emotional North Koreans could be seen as "formalized grief."
"This is what people expect to do on a sad occasion," he added. "Whether they genuinely feel it, I don't know."
Asian stock markets moved lower amid the news, which raises the possibility of increased instability on the divided Korean peninsula.
South Korea's Kospi index was down 3.9 percent at 1,767.89 and Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.8 percent to 8,331.00. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 2 percent to 17,929.66 and the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 2 percent to 2,178.75.
Fears for the future
Even with a successor, there had been some fear among North Korean observers of a behind-the-scenes power struggle or nuclear instability upon the elder Kim's death.
Few firm facts are available when it comes to North Korea, one of the most isolated countries in the world, and not much is clear about the man known as the "Dear Leader."
North Korean legend has it that Kim was born on Mount Paektu, one of Korea's most cherished sites, in 1942, a birth heralded in the heavens by a pair of rainbows and a brilliant new star. Soviet records, however, indicate he was born in Siberia, in 1941.
Kim Il Sung, who for years fought for independence from Korea's colonial ruler, Japan, from a base in Russia, emerged as a communist leader after returning to Korea in 1945 after Japan was defeated in World War II.
With the peninsula divided between the Soviet-administered north and the U.S.-administered south, Kim rose to power as North Korea's first leader in 1948 while Syngman Rhee became South Korea's first president.
19 Dec 2011
NBC, msnbc.com and news services
PYONGYANG, North Korea — Kim Jong Il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic longtime leader, has died of heart failure. He was 69.
In a "special broadcast" Monday from the North Korean capital, state media said Kim died of a heart ailment on a train due to a "great mental and physical strain" on Saturday during a "high intensity field inspection." It said an autopsy was done on Sunday and "fully confirmed" the diagnosis.
A spokesperson at the Unification Ministry confirmed Kim's death to NBC News.
Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008, but he had appeared relatively vigorous in photos and video from recent trips to China and Russia and in numerous trips around the country carefully documented by state media. The communist country's "Dear Leader" — reputed to have had a taste for cigars, cognac and gourmet cuisine — was believed to have had diabetes and heart disease.
"It is the biggest loss for the party ... and it is our people and nation's biggest sadness," an anchorwoman clad in black Korean traditional dress said in a voice choked with tears. She said the nation must "change our sadness to strength and overcome our difficulties."
NBC News' Julie Yoo reported that South Korea put its military on alert and President Lee Myung-bak convened a national security council meeting after the news of Kim's death.
President Barack Obama was monitoring reports of the death of the North Korean leader, the White House said Sunday night, adding that U.S. officials were in contact with allies in South Korea and Japan.
"We remain committed to stability on the Korean peninsula, and to the freedom and security of our allies," the White House said in a statement.
In Japan, the government said in a statement on Monday that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told ministers and officials to boost information-gathering on the future of North Korea and to be ready for the unexpected, Reuters reported.
The news came as North Korea prepared for a hereditary succession.
Kim Jong Il inherited power after his father, revered North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, died in 1994. In September 2010, Kim Jong Il introduced his third son, the twenty-something Kim Jong Un, as his successor, putting him in high-ranking posts.
Traffic in the North Korean capital was moving as usual Monday, but people in the streets were in tears as they learned the news of Kim's death. A foreigner contacted at Pyongyang's Koryo Hotel said hotel staff were in tears.
Jim Hoare, a British former diplomat who served in North Korea after the countries established relations in 2000, told Sky News that Kim's death left considerable uncertainty.
"Nobody can be sure what change will be like," he said. "We don't really know who has power, who doesn't have power. We're always guessing."
Video: Even in death, details of Kim Jong Il's life elusive (on this page)
Hoare said that television footage showing emotional North Koreans could be seen as "formalized grief."
"This is what people expect to do on a sad occasion," he added. "Whether they genuinely feel it, I don't know."
Asian stock markets moved lower amid the news, which raises the possibility of increased instability on the divided Korean peninsula.
South Korea's Kospi index was down 3.9 percent at 1,767.89 and Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.8 percent to 8,331.00. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 2 percent to 17,929.66 and the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 2 percent to 2,178.75.
Fears for the future
Even with a successor, there had been some fear among North Korean observers of a behind-the-scenes power struggle or nuclear instability upon the elder Kim's death.
Few firm facts are available when it comes to North Korea, one of the most isolated countries in the world, and not much is clear about the man known as the "Dear Leader."
North Korean legend has it that Kim was born on Mount Paektu, one of Korea's most cherished sites, in 1942, a birth heralded in the heavens by a pair of rainbows and a brilliant new star. Soviet records, however, indicate he was born in Siberia, in 1941.
Kim Il Sung, who for years fought for independence from Korea's colonial ruler, Japan, from a base in Russia, emerged as a communist leader after returning to Korea in 1945 after Japan was defeated in World War II.
With the peninsula divided between the Soviet-administered north and the U.S.-administered south, Kim rose to power as North Korea's first leader in 1948 while Syngman Rhee became South Korea's first president.
1 comment:
I swear, Kim Jung Un looks like my smart-ass half-brother, chubby cheek, heavy set and all.
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