Azaran on 19/12/2011 at 04:08
(
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16239693) North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il just died
Let's see if this leads to greater freedom in the country...
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has died at the age of 69, state-run television has announced.
Mr Kim, who has led the communist nation since the death of his father in 1994, died on a train while visiting an area outside the capital, the announcement said.
He suffered a stroke in 2008 and was absent from public view for months.
His designated successor is believed to be his third son, Kim Jong-un, who is thought to be in his late 20s.
North Korea's state-run news agency, KCNA, urged people to unite behind the younger Kim.
"All party members, military men and the public should faithfully follow the leadership of comrade Kim Jong-un and protect and further strengthen the unified front of the party, military and the public," the news agency said.
A funeral for Kim Jong-il will be held in Pyongyang on 28 December and Kim Jong-un will head the funeral committee, KCNA said.
Kim Jong-il (file image) North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had suffered from poor health since his stroke in 2008
The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Seoul says Mr Kim's death will cause huge shock waves across North Korea, an impoverished, nuclear-armed nation with few allies.
The announcement came in an emotional statement read out on national television.
The announcer, wearing black, said he had died of physical and mental over-work. A later report from KCNA said Mr Kim had had a heart attack.
South Korea's military has been put on alert following the announcement and its National Security Council is convening for an emergency meeting, Yonhap news agency reports.
Asian stock markets fell after the news was announced. Scots Taffer on 19/12/2011 at 04:33
Until a replacement is in place I doubt we can feel too celebratory about this - in a time of global uncertainty I wouldn't want to see an impoverished nuclear-armed wannabe-super-power going through a period of flux.
N'Al on 19/12/2011 at 08:23
Ronery no more.
Kolya on 19/12/2011 at 11:21
I highly doubt that there will be any kind of liberation. The Kims have established themselves as a holy family protecting their child-like people. They have invented their own crazy religion in which the continuance of the Kim bloodline is interwoven with the fate of the country.
While some degree of personality cult was part of most socialist regimes, theirs is a full blown mythical monarchy with only superficial socialist traits, so twisted and cruel as if Alice had fallen into Stalin's arsehole.
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/fFUcQ.jpg"><img width="500" src="http://i.imgur.com/fFUcQ.jpg"/></a>
Koki on 19/12/2011 at 11:24
Quote Posted by Kolya
so twisted and cruel as if Alice had fallen into Stalin's arsehole.
Fund it.
Kolya on 19/12/2011 at 11:37
I don't get it. Is that an internet meme?
Koki on 20/12/2011 at 08:18
Actually, it is, and extremely obscure one at that, but it hardly matters as the meaning is the same.
Kolya on 20/12/2011 at 13:10
Mmh, I figured as much, after I found the original citation for "my body is ready"*.
I still don't get the meaning of this one. (And I can hear RBJ laughing and preparing another "you suck at English" line, so make it quick, if you will.)
*By the way you got off lightly with that one, because when I said "you're ready?" my original plan was to challenge you into singing a kristmas kanon with me. But in the last moment I figured you probably would be too cool for that, so I ended up with a Christmas story thread. :)
Melan on 20/12/2011 at 15:04
Quote Posted by Kolya
I highly doubt that there will be any kind of liberation. The Kims have established themselves as a holy family protecting their child-like people. They have invented their own crazy religion in which the continuance of the Kim bloodline is interwoven with the fate of the country.
The existence of propaganda doesn't mean the outpouring of the masses is genuine. As much as police state repression can stifle independent expression, it cannot stamp out the bleakness of everyday reality, nor signs of the outside world. If people are marching happily, extolling the greatness of their god-king, that only means they are very good at pretending. And they have to be, "or else". The reason the whole regime doesn't fall over is due to the state's willingness to use the most brutal methods against its citizens, and the toil for everyday livelihood that prevents even the basic level of social organisation.
The question is, can and will NK keep up that level of control? I am not sure Kim Jr. Jr. will last as long as his dad did. It was already a problematic succession, and if he isn't good at political backstabbing (he doesn't have much experience), the army might end up replacing him. That would probably lead to a junta more concerned with sweatshops, "special economic zones" and their own privileges than the Kim family's flat out crazy, with a smaller, but existing possibility of complete social disintegration.
