View Full Version : Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s ‘Dear Leader’ Dictator, Dead at 70



Maynard
12-18-2011, 08:16 PM
Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s ‘Dear Leader’ Dictator, Dead at 70, Yonhap Says - 18 December 2011 (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-19/kim-jong-il-north-korea-s-dear-leader-dictator-dead-at-70-yonhap-says.html)

Kim Jong Il, the second-generation North Korean dictator who defied global condemnation to build nuclear weapons while his people starved, has died, Yonhap News reported. He was 70.

The news came in a radio broadcast at noon local time, Yonhap reported, citing North Korea’s official media. Kim probably had a stroke in August 2008 and may have also contracted pancreatic cancer, according to South Korean news reports.

The son of Kim Il Sung, North Korea’s founder, Kim was a chain-smoking recluse who ruled for 17 years after coming to power in July 1994 and resisted opening up to the outside world in order to protect his regime. The potential succession of his little-known third son, Kim Jong Un, threatens to trigger a dangerous period for the Korean peninsula, where 1.7 million troops from the two Koreas and the U.S. square off every day.

“Kim Jong Il inherited a genius for playing the weak hand and by keeping the major powers nervous, continuing his father’s tradition of turning Korea’s history of subservience on its head,” said Michael Breen, the Seoul-based author of “Kim Jong Il: North Korea’s Dear Leader,” a biography. “We have entered an uncertain moment with North Korea.”

Lampooned by foreign cartoonists and filmmakers for his weight, his zippered jumpsuits, his aviator sunglasses and his bouffant hairdo, Kim cut a more serious figure in his rare dealings with world leaders outside the Communist bloc.

Words for Albright

“If there’s no confrontation, there’s no significance to weapons,” he told Madeleine Albright, then U.S. secretary of state, in a 2000 meeting in Pyongyang.

Those words took on greater significance in 2009 as Kim defied threats of United Nations sanctions to test a second nuclear device and a ballistic missile, technically capable of striking Alaska.

The following year North Korea lashed out militarily, prompting stern warnings from the U.S. and South Korea. An international investigation blamed Kim’s regime for the March 2010 sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan that killed 46 sailors.

Eight months later North Korea shelled a South Korean island, killing two soldiers, two civilians and setting homes ablaze. The act followed reports by an American scientist that the country had made “stunning” advances to its uranium- enrichment program.

MadMonk
12-18-2011, 08:26 PM
Hopefully, this will lead to at least a slightly less insane dictatorship.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_KOREA_KIM_JONG_IL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-12-18-22-08-46


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.

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 unveiled his third son, the twenty-something Kim Jong Un, as his successor, putting him in high-ranking posts.

venture
12-18-2011, 08:30 PM
Wrong forum, reported to get it moved over and merged.

Thunder
12-19-2011, 03:13 AM
I think his son will inherit the power. Is this the same country threatening WW3?

Sheetkeecker
12-19-2011, 04:01 AM
Oh--Dear...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHJoj9IqeKg

Thunder
12-19-2011, 04:31 AM
Its ok to cry when Betty White dies, but this man?!?!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pSWN6Qj98Iw#!

http://www.businessinsider.com/north-koreans-bawling-after-kim-jong-il-death-2011-12

Sheetkeecker
12-19-2011, 05:45 AM
tears of unbridled joy are often mistaken as tears of sorrow...which do you think you are seeing here?

MadMonk
12-19-2011, 05:55 AM
Wrong forum, reported to get it moved over and merged.
Thanks, I would have sworn I posted this in the Current Events section.

MadMonk
12-19-2011, 05:58 AM
tears of unbridled joy are often mistaken as tears of sorrow...which do you think you are seeing here?
I love how the crowd was lined up neatly in rows at first, almost as if they were ordered to do so.

HewenttoJared
12-19-2011, 06:45 AM
Intrade already has some interesting scenarios up for the next six months for both of the Koreas.

Snowman
12-19-2011, 06:57 AM
Their is already a thread on the forum for this here: http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=28096

Martin
12-19-2011, 07:33 AM
threads merged. -M

RadicalModerate
12-19-2011, 07:57 AM
Dick Martin: "So, Dan . . . Did you hear about Kim Jong?
Dan Rowan: "You mean Kim Jong Il?"
Dick Martin: "No, Kim Jong is no longer Il . . . Kim Jong Dead.

(Cut to Artie Johnson in a German uniform in the bushes:
"Verrrrrrry In-ter-eths-ting." . . . "But schtoopid.")

FritterGirl
12-19-2011, 12:24 PM
Its ok to cry when Betty White dies, but this man?!?!

These poor people have been brainwashed to believe that Kim Jong Il is a deity with magical powers. This type of reaction doesn't surprise me. Mr. Fritter used to serve on the DMZ between North and South Korea. He has some doozy stories about North Korean life. These people are terribly isolated and receive virtually zero information at all about the world outside, and all communication to them is filtered by the state. Information is fed to them from the government and they are allowed virtually no free thought whatsoever. The few dissidents that do manage to speak out are dealt with swiftly. This video - brought to you by the North Korean government - was likely a set-up of some kind. I'm not saying the crying is "staged" - many of these people believe they have lost their "God" - but that the North Koreans want us to see one and only one message. You won't see people protesting the new government, or reaction that is anything but the utmost outpouring of grief. We're talking about a land where foreign journalists are not allowed in.

Maynard
12-19-2011, 12:45 PM
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You won't see people protesting the new government, or reaction that is anything but the utmost outpouring of grief.
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There is still the possibility of a military coup. The "Great Successor" (heir apparent Un) has yet to prove himself to them. North Korea shares an 800-some-odd-mile long border with China. If there is civil unrest, I suspect many will attempt to flee to China (which won't end well for the North Koreans).

RadicalModerate
12-19-2011, 01:06 PM
These poor people have been brainwashed to believe that Kim Jong Il is a deity with magical powers. This type of reaction doesn't surprise me. Mr. Fritter used to serve on the DMZ between North and South Korea. He has some doozy stories about North Korean life. These people are terribly isolated and receive virtually zero information at all about the world outside, and all communication to them is filtered by the state. Information is fed to them from the government and they are allowed virtually no free thought whatsoever. The few dissidents that do manage to speak out are dealt with swiftly. This video - brought to you by the North Korean government - was likely a set-up of some kind. I'm not saying the crying is "staged" - many of these people believe they have lost their "God" - but that the North Koreans want us to see one and only one message. You won't see people protesting the new government, or reaction that is anything but the utmost outpouring of grief. We're talking about a land where foreign journalists are not allowed in.

So . . . Is it Korea? Or just North/vs/as compared to/South Korea?
And how does that explain Sun Yung Moon?
Or even The Kia in its many forms?

I suppose that the best word is "inscrutable" . . .
Or perhaps, better updated, to "unscrewable" . . .
Except, of course, in how The New World/Whirrled Order Responds . . .

I do know this: The Koreans were the toughest, most tenacious, soldiers in the vicinity of the Mekong Delta.
Back in the day.

Perhaps a Berlin Airlift invovling Kindles and Nooks and Free Internet Access Satellites is just over the horizon?

OKCisOK4me
12-19-2011, 01:18 PM
Sooooooooo, was he 69 or 70? Don't really care, just wondering...

RadicalModerate
12-19-2011, 01:32 PM
Are you betting on something? =)

Like, involving Mayan Calendars or sumpin'?
(Merging can be a problem.)

OKCisOK4me
12-19-2011, 01:33 PM
Are you betting on something? =)

Without you quoting someone, who are you talking about?

Martin
12-19-2011, 01:52 PM
Sooooooooo, was he 69 or 70? Don't really care, just wondering...

sources vary as to his exact date of birth... -M

OKCisOK4me
12-19-2011, 01:58 PM
sources vary as to his exact date of birth... -M

To be shrouded by mystery & conspiracy, lol. Can't wait for sonny to step up!

HewenttoJared
12-19-2011, 03:05 PM
These poor people have been brainwashed to believe that Kim Jong Il is a deity with magical powers. This type of reaction doesn't surprise me. Mr. Fritter used to serve on the DMZ between North and South Korea. He has some doozy stories about North Korean life. These people are terribly isolated and receive virtually zero information at all about the world outside, and all communication to them is filtered by the state. Information is fed to them from the government and they are allowed virtually no free thought whatsoever. The few dissidents that do manage to speak out are dealt with swiftly. This video - brought to you by the North Korean government - was likely a set-up of some kind. I'm not saying the crying is "staged" - many of these people believe they have lost their "God" - but that the North Koreans want us to see one and only one message. You won't see people protesting the new government, or reaction that is anything but the utmost outpouring of grief. We're talking about a land where foreign journalists are not allowed in.

It I'll be interesting to see how much of the crazy juice his son drank.

RadicalModerate
12-19-2011, 03:37 PM
Are you betting on something? =)

Like, involving Mayan Calendars or sumpin'?
(Merging can be a problem.)

I'm sorry for the lack of "provinance" . . .
I was (jokingly/japingly) referring to your post . . .
sorry not to be more clear/transparent =)
OKCisok4me2?

Perhaps all of US should begin to believe that Our Former Enemies
on The Korean Pennensula--All of "them"--are now Our Friends.

"Sonny" . . . What becomes of him? . . .
Maybe at the border crossing? . . .
yrv1roq_gBw

Nah . . . That would be nearly as confusing as waiting for a table
at a Chinese Restaurant somewhere on Manhattan . . .

OKCisOK4me
12-19-2011, 03:56 PM
LOL, actually, when I read your post the first time, my weary eyes saw 'better' and not 'betting'. I thought you were calling me or somebody else out! My badddd...

RadicalModerate
12-19-2011, 04:00 PM
thank you for understanding and not getting pissed off in this holiday season.
really . . . =) no kidding . . . it's all metaphorical if you think about it . . .
or . . if you prefer . . . tinkaboudit . . . =)

OKCisOK4me
12-19-2011, 04:03 PM
No, not pissed off at all. But if I were a surgeon, today would all around be a bad day for me. Mondays are the days my brain is off and my hands like to drop things. Not a good day to hold a scalpel at all, lol!

chuck johnson
12-20-2011, 09:06 AM
It I'll be interesting to see how much of the crazy juice his son drank.

Well, he was educated in Switzerland and is a huge NBA fan who was known to spend endless hours drawing pictures of Michael Jordan. An affinity of things distinctly American can't hurt....

Sheetkeecker
12-28-2011, 07:36 AM
The heartbreak is without limit, listen to the heart-rending commentary by the newsman. Odd they chose a Lincoln by Ford to carry off the corpse. (probably donated as a gesture of good-will by Jimmy Carter)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSLJYbhXCkE