North Korean leader Kim Jong Il dies

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il dies

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il dead, son hailed as heir

By David Chance and Jack Kim | Reuters – 46 mins ago

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SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack while on a train trip, state media reported on 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 on Saturday of physical and mental over-work on his way to give "field guidance" - a reference to advice dispensed by the "Dear Leader" on his trips to factories, farms and military bases.

Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il's youngest son, was named by North Korea's official news agency KCNA as the "great successor" to his father, which lauded him as "the outstanding leader of our party, army and people."

Little is known of Jong-un who is believed to be in his late 20s and was appointed to senior political and military posts in 2010.

KCNA news agency said the elder Kim died at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday (2330 GMT on Friday) after "an advanced acute myocardial infarction, complicated with a serious heart shock." Kim had suffered a stroke in 2008, but had appeared to have recovered from that ailment.

South Korea, still technically at war with the North, placed its troops and all government workers on emergency alert but Seoul's Defense Ministry said there were no signs of any unusual North Korean troop movements and President Lee Myung-bak called for people to carry on with their normal lives.

Lee held talks with President Barack Obama over the telephone as the United States is the main guarantor of South Korea's security. Seoul was also due to hold talks with government officials in Tokyo later in the day.

"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. end quote from:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il dies

As is stated in the article above this is a very dangerous time for the world. Whenever you have a power with Nuclear weapons that is a dictatorship going through a governmental change you can bet there is rough seas ahead for the world. This particular case is troubling for a variety of reasons. First, North Korea borders China, so it is possible that China might feel at some point that it needs to take over North Korea to prevent some sort of conflict between North and South Korea that would cause damage to China. Second, South Korea might feel this is the perfect time to reintegrate North and South Korea, which might succeed if it weren't for China, unless secretly China agrees with South Korea. Third, Japan which is nearby feels threatened by all of this, especially after that really horrible year with the Tsunami and really bad Earthquake and radiation from Fukushima and losing over 20,000 of its citizens so far. 4th, the U.S. isn't likely to just stand by if North Korea attacks South Korea or Japan with missiles to demonstrate how powerful its new ruler is. And the rest of the world will be biting its nails on top of all the other problems in the world right now, with Pakistan, Iran etc and even Afghanistan likely all worried about how they will fare through all of these changes.