Kim Jong-Il is dead

[River]

http://news.yahoo.com/north-korean-lead ... 48603.html

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Kim Jong Il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic leader whose iron rule and nuclear ambitions dominated world security fears for more than a decade, has died. He was 69.

Kim's death 17 years after he inherited power from his father was announced Monday by the state television from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. The 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.

North Korea has been grooming Kim's third son to take over power from his father in the impoverished nation that celebrates the ruling family with an intense cult of personality.

South Korea put its military on "high alert" and President Lee Myung-bak convened a national security council meeting after the news of Kim's death.

In a "special broadcast" Monday, 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's hard to say what's going on with North Korea. Hopefully, the transition to power will be smooth. Hopefully, the new leader won't care to indulge in excess saber-rattling. Hopefully, the South Korean government won't do anything stupid. Hopefully, the Korean Peninsula will stay peaceful. Hopefully.

[Frelga]

It's a sad epitaph on a life when a person passes on and the best one can say is,'"I hope now things can get better."

[RoseMorninStar]

I'm not really trying to make a statement. I just saw this article in the news and thought I'd pass it along.

North Korea to Punish Mourners Who Were Insincere

[ToshoftheWuffingas]

It sounds a bit like all those right wing attacks in the media on Obama for not being pious enough.