North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il Is Dead

Kim Jong Il, the dictator who used fear and isolation to maintain power in North Korea and his nuclear weapons to menace his neighbors and threaten the U.S., has died, North Korean state television reported early Monday.

His death opens a new and potentially dangerous period of transition and instability for North Korea and northeast Asia. Mr. Kim in September 2010 tapped the youngest of his three sons, Kim Jong Eun, to succeed him, and North Korean state television on Monday said the younger Mr. Kim will lead the country.

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Posted in * Economics, Politics, * International News & Commentary, Asia, Foreign Relations, North Korea, Politics in General

8 comments on “North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il Is Dead

  1. Ian+ says:

    Let’s hope Kim Jr. is not anything like Uday Hussein

  2. CharlietheCook says:

    Il had been ill for quite some time. Can I get a rimshot?

  3. Cennydd13 says:

    1. Don’t bet on it. Kim Jong Eun has been very carefully groomed by his handlers.

  4. Katherine says:

    This would be a good time to pray earnestly for the release of the North Korean population from oppression. Freedom in North Korea would likely lead to the blossoming of Christian witness as it has in the South.

  5. evan miller says:

    I think a good case can be made for NK being th most brutal and incompetent nation on the planet. Certainly Haiti and others are at least as incompetent, but none are as brutal in official policy and practice.

  6. Cennydd13 says:

    Take a good look at pictures of North Korean military personnel, and tell me how many chubby ones you see. Ditto for the civilians, and yet, look at Kim Il Jung and see the difference. Nothing but fine wines and gourmet cooking for him and his family; in fact, nothing but the best for all of the country’s rulers, but nothing for the proletariat……the common folk.

  7. Cennydd13 says:

    Yet they all idolized him and his father; as though they were God incarnate.

  8. paradoxymoron says:

    Don’t forget about kidnappings of Japanese women for sex slavery and intelligence gathering, and jetting in Swedish hookers for the Dear Leader.