Kim Jong Il Has Died
Diane Ellis ·
December 19, 2011 at 4:21am
The New York Times reports:
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Kim Jong Il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic leader, has died. He was 69.
Kim's death was announced Monday by state television from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.
Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008 but 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 leader, reputed to have had a taste for cigars, cognac and gourmet cuisine, was believed to have had diabetes and heart disease.
[...]
In September 2010, Kim Jong Il unveiled his third son, the twenty-something Kim Jong Un, as his successor, putting him in high-ranking posts.
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Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
I remember everyone in-country held their collective breath when his dad, Kim Il-Sung died. This will be interesting.
Dec '10
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
So passes a genuine monster of our time. May his passing bring some peace to his impoverished people.
Jan '11
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
Paraphrasing what Roach said to Special Agent Johnny Utah in Point Break: we'll see you in hell, Jongy!
May '10
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
Wow. Osama bin Laden, Gaddafi, and now the "Dear Leader." Hugo Chavez... you're not looking too well, you know?
May '10
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
Usama, Jong Il.....Jong Il, Usama.
May '10
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
Off to consult my Dante for a fitting image....
Dec '11
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
Only 69? I thought with all that wonderful socialized medicine he'd at least make 100.
Jul '11
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
This was my first thought as well. Hopefully Kim Jong-Un won't feel it necessary to prove he is as rambunctious as his father as he ascends to the 'throne'.
Jan '11
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
Kim was a monster, but few individual monsters are capable of the devastation that genuine anarchy can bring. Here's praying someone manages to take incontrovertible control, and quickly.
Apr '11
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
"Kim" "Jong" the witch is dead....
But in all seriousness, this is a watershed event. Do not underestimate the danger of a 20-something in control of a nuclear power.
May '10
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
Here's hoping the people of North Korea can free themselves of this awful cult at last.
Mar '11
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
An absolutely horrible sentiment yet considering North Korea it holds far too much truth. It is difficult to imagine any outcome that is not brutal for the people of North Korea yet that is the horror we face, where a peaceful transition would likely be preferable to the anarchy of a power struggle. No good outcomes, merely bad and worse.
Look upon this regime and you know the face of true evil.
Mar '11
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
"Mercurial and enigmatic leader".....
Oh, NYT, your understatement offends our taste.
Surely what you meant was "Petty, diminutive, and vicious tyrant".
Apr '11
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
Crow's Nest: "Mercurial and enigmatic leader".....
Oh, NYT, your understatement offends our taste.
Surely what you meant was "Petty, diminutive, and vicious tyrant". · Dec 18 at 10:18pm
No kidding. By the NYT's account you'd think Andy Kaufmann, or Hunter Thompson just died.
Apr '11
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
Now the trouble begins. At least that's how I see it. Does the Kim dynasty survive with the young prince in power. Can he control the generals. Will he or they want to change the trajectory of the regime, and if so in which direction.
Is this a good time for us to arm or try to reach out to the North to offer a path back into the community of countries...I think this should under score the need for a President who is serious and thoughtful on foreign policy.
Jan '11
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
There goes my chance for superlative golf lessons
Sep '10
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
My first thought is good riddance to the second tyrant in the perfectly named "axis of evil".It seems to me ultimately that the North Koreans are so near rock bottom that their leader is of little consequence.
Jul '10
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
To borrow a joke from David Letterman...he'll be succeeded by his son Menta Li Il.
Sep '11
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
Missing from any reportage is mention of stuff like this, from a true leader that also passed away this week: Today, the testimony of thousands of North Korean refugees, who have survived the miserable journey through Communist China to free South Korea, tell of the criminal nature of the North Korean dictatorship. Accounts of repression are supported and verified by modern satellite images, and clearly illustrate that North Korea has a functioning system of concentration camps. The Kwan-li-so, or the political penal-labour colony, holds as many as 200,000 prisoners who are barely surviving day-to-day or are dying in the same conditions as did the millions of prisoners in the Soviet gulag system in the past.
Edited on December 19, 2011 at 4:37pmDec '10
Re: Kim Jong Il Has Died
Huzzah!
Been a rough year for weirdo despots and general bad guys.
Here's hoping for more of the same in 2012.