http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/19/us-korea-north-idUSTRE7BI05B20111219
Quote(Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack while on a train trip, state media reported Monday, sparking immediate concern over who is in control of the reclusive state and its nuclear program.
A tearful television announcer dressed in black said the 69-year old had died Saturday of physical and mental over-work on his way to give "field guidance."
...
South Korea, still technically at war with the North, placed its troops and all government workers on emergency alert, Yonhap news agency reported. But Seoul's Defense Ministry said there were no signs of any unusual North Korean troop movements.
"Up until tonight, if anybody had asked you what would be the most likely scenario under which the North Korean regime could collapse, the answer would be the sudden death of Kim Jong-il," said Victor Cha, a Korea expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank in Washington.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoOhnrjdYOc&ob=av3e
RIP Glorious Leader, 1942-2011.
Whoop. Wrong thread.
https://twitter.com/#!/jstrevino/status/148617974616567808
Quote@jstrevino
Joshua Treviño
I'd like to think God let Havel and Hitchens pick the third.
RIP you warmongering tyrant.
Oh sorry I thought this was the Christopher Hitchens thread.
:rimshot:
Quote from: Faust on December 19, 2011, 10:54:46 AM
Oh sorry I thought this was the Christopher Hitchens thread.
:mittens:
Died six months off schedule, as power was set to be handed over this summer.
See, socialism can't get anything right.
http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/12/19/2011121903299.html?news_Head1
판웨이는 김정일 사망에 대한 각국 표정에 대해 ▲북한은 '엉엉' 우는 슬픈 표정 ▲한국은 미소 짓는 모습 ▲일본은 이를 드러내고 웃는 모습 ▲미국은 입을 벌리고 크게 웃는 모습으로 선택해 표현했다. 또 ▲영국은 입을 가리고 웃는 모습 ▲러시아는 고심하는 모습 ▲중국은 당황해 하는 모습 ▲기타 국가들은 매우 놀란 모습으로 표현된 이모티콘을 사용했다.
Loose translation, via commentary at the marmot's hole (http://www.rjkoehler.com/2011/12/19/a-setting-sun-on-shenyang/):
"To describe each country's reactions to Kim Jong Il's death, a Chinese reporter summarized the reactions through emoticons."
North Korea: :x
South Korea: :)
Japan: :lol:
USA: :lulz:
Britain: :spittake:
China: :?
Nobody on the news seems to know if or how big any internal power struggle is going to be.
Can China (or anyone else) bring enough pressure on them to keep any such struggle internal (i.e., without anybody launching a few missiles over the southern border to prove how patriotic they are?)