A nation in tears: North Koreans mourn the death of Kim Jong Il... as West fears show of strength from nuclear state's new leader
Last updated at 9:59 AM on 19th December 2011
North Koreans are in mourning - many of them breaking down in tears on the streets - after the death of the country's diminutive dictator. Kim Jong Il's death on Saturday, aged 69, was announced last night in a special broadcast by state TV from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. He died of a heart ailment on a train due to a 'great mental and physical strain' during a 'high intensity field inspection.' The news has prompted South Korea and Japan to put their militaries on 'high alert' - with the U.S. saying it could postpone decisions on re-engaging North Korea in nuclear talks and providing it with food aid. Observers also fear a behind-the-scenes power struggle, or nuclear instability, between the country's military and politicians - despite the announcement his third son Kim Jong Un is to be his successor. Scroll down for video...   Dead: Kim Jong Il (left) died on Saturday and will now be replaced by his third son Kim Jong Un (right)  Unexpected: A Japanese woman reads about the death of Kim Jong Il in Tokyo Rod Lyon, a Korea expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra, said: 'The reason people are watching closely is not because we expect the North to strike out, it's because events within North Korea could have unsettling ramifications. 'If there's a contested succession, it means there's a struggle over things like who controls North Korea's plutonium, not just who controls North Korea's army.' The other key regional player is China, the closest North Korea has to a major ally and which has a sometimes testy relationship with the United States. Cai Jian, a Korea expert at Shanghai's Fudan University, said: 'China's biggest worry will be over North Korea's stability, and China's aim will be to ensure the country remains stable. More...'I think security will be stepped up in North Korea, and China is also likely to tighten security along the border. If (Kim's) death leads to chaos, we could see a flow of refugees across the (Chinese) border.' Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who said his country was bracing itself for the unexpected, and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak agreed over the phone to cooperate closely. The news has come as a surprise for many North Korean because Kim, who reportedly suffered a stroke in 2008, had appeared relatively vigorous in photos from recent visits to China and Russia. His funeral is planned for December 28 in Pyongyang, with a mourning period to last until December 29. U.S. President Barack Obama's administration said it had been expected to decide on food aid and the re-engagement of North Korea in nuclear issues this week. But officials, worried about changes in the military postures of both North and South Korea, said Kim's death would delay the process.  Mourning: Pyongyang residents weep as they are told that their leader Kim Jong Il has died    Grief: Men and women have been reduced to tears with the news, which was announced by a weeping broadcaster on state TV (centre)  In mourning: A North Korean woman holding flowers walks through a fence to enter the North Korea embassy to mourn the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Beijing, China   Expressive: North Koreans have been breaking down in tears following the news that their leader has died UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said his death could be a 'turning point' for the country and urged his successors to recognise that engagement with the international community offered the best hope of improving the lives of their people. He said: 'The people of North Korea are in official mourning after the death of Kim Jong Il. We understand this is a difficult time for them. This could be a turning point for North Korea. We hope their new leadership will recognise that engagement with the international community offers the best prospect of improving the lives of ordinary North Korean people. 'We encourage North Korea to work for peace and security in the region and take the steps necessary to allow the resumption of the Six Party Talks on denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.' China said it was 'distressed' to learn of his death but remained confident North Korea would remain united and that the two neighbours would keep up their cooperation. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said: 'We were distressed to learn of the unfortunate passing of the senior-most North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, and we express our grief about this and extend our condolences to the people of North Korea.'  Respect: Students of Pyongyang Secondary School No 1 gather as they mourn over the death of Kim Jong Il   Devastated: Employees of Pyongyang 326 Electric Wire Factory mourn are pictured mourning Kim Jong Il's death  Despair: Pyongyang react with disbelief after being told the news   Why? Men and women have fallen on their knees to show their grief at the loss of the their leader Ma praised Kim as a 'great leader' who made 'important contributions' to relations with China and added: 'We are confident that the North Korean people will be able to turn their anguish into strength and unify as one. 'China and North Korea will strive together to continue making positive contributions to consolidating and developing the traditional friendship between our two parties, governments and peoples, and to preserving the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the region.' North Korea is calling Kim Jong Il's son a 'great successor' to the country's guiding principle of self reliance, as the country rallies around heir-apparent Kim Jong Un as the next leader. The official Korean Central News Agency said the country 'must faithfully revere respectable comrade Kim Jong Un', and urged its 24 million citizens to rally behind him as it mourns.  Coverage: A man watches the reporting of the death of Kim Jong Il through the windows of an electronics store in Tokyo, Japan   Breaking news: A South Korean woman watches a TV news reporting the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il at Seoul rail station (left) as a Vietnamese man places a funeral wreath in front of Pyongyang Restaurant in Hanoi (right) The U.S. dollar jumped, in response to his death, as uncertainty in North Korea increased the country's safe-haven appeal. Asian stock markets moved lower amid the news, which raises the possibility of increased instability on the divided Korean peninsula. South Korea's Kospi index was down 3.9 per cent at 1,767.89 and Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.8 per cent to 8,331.00. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 2 per cent to 17,929.66 and the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 2 per cent to 2,178.75. The news of Kim's death 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 introduced his third son, the twenty-something Kim Jong Un, as his successor, placing him in high-ranking posts. Kim Jong Il had been groomed for 20 years to lead the communist nation founded by his guerilla fighter-turned-politician father and built according to the principle of 'juche,' or self-reliance.   Reaction: Elderly South Koreans chant anti-North Korean slogans in Seoul (left) as police officers stand guard at the General Association of Korean residents in Tokyo, Japan  Surprise: South Korean soldiers react as they watch a news broadcast reporting the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il at the Seoul train station in Seoul, South Korea   U.S. relations: Bill Clinton made a surprise visit to meet Kim Jong Il in 2009 to secure the release of two American journalists (left) while he met Russia's then President Vladimir Putin in 2002 (right) Few firm facts are available when it comes to North Korea, one of the most isolated countries in the world, and little is clear about the origins of the man known as the 'Dear Leader.' WHO'S TAKING OVER THE REGIME? News of Kim's death 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 (pictured), as his successor, putting him in high-ranking posts. As BBC News reports, 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. Kim's marital status was not clear at press time but he is believed to have married once and had at least three other companions. He had at least three sons with two women, as well as a daughter by a third. His eldest son, Kim Jong Nam, 38, is believed to have fallen out of favour with his father after he was caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport in 2001 saying he wanted to visit Disney's Tokyo resort. His two other sons by another woman, Kim Jong Chul and Kim Jong Un, are in their 20s. Their mother reportedly died several years ago. North Korean legend has it he was born on Mount Paekdu, one of Korea's most cherished sites, in 1942, a birth heralded in the heavens by a pair of rainbows and a brilliant new star. Soviet records, however, indicate he was born in Siberia, in 1941. Kim Il Sung, who for years fought for independence from Korea's colonial ruler, Japan, from a base in Russia, emerged as a communist leader after returning to Korea in 1945 after Japan was defeated in World War II. With the peninsula divided between the Soviet-administered north and the U.S.-administered south, Kim rose to power as North Korea's first leader in 1948 while Syngman Rhee became South Korea's first president. The North invaded the South in 1950, sparking a war that would last three years, kill millions of civilians and leave the peninsula divided by a Demilitarized Zone that today remains one of the world's most heavily fortified. In the North, Kim Il Sung meshed Stalinist ideology with a cult of personality that encompassed him and his son. Their portraits hang in every building in North Korea and on the lapels of every dutiful North Korean. Kim Jong Il, a graduate of Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung University, was 33 when his father anointed him his eventual successor. Even before he took over as leader, there were signs the younger Kim would maintain - and perhaps exceed - his father's hard-line stance. South Korea has accused Kim of masterminding a 1983 bombing that killed 17 South Korean officials visiting Burma, now known as Myanmar. In 1987, the bombing of a Korean Air Flight killed all 115 people on board; a North Korean agent who confessed to planting the device said Kim ordered the downing of the plane himself. Kim Jong Il took over after his father died in 1994, eventually taking the posts of chairman of the National Defence Commission, commander of the Korean People's Army and head of the ruling Worker's Party while his father remained as North Korea's 'eternal president.' He faithfully carried out his father's policy of 'military first,' devoting much of the country's scarce resources to its troops - even as his people suffered from a prolonged famine - and built the world's fifth-largest military. Kim also sought to build up the country's nuclear arms arsenal, which culminated in North Korea's first nuclear test explosion, an underground blast conducted in October 2006. Another test came in 2009. Alarmed, regional leaders negotiated a disarmament-for-aid pact that the North signed in 2007 and began implementing later that year. However, the process continues to be stalled, even as diplomats work to restart negotiations. North Korea, long hampered by sanctions and unable to feed its own people, is desperate for aid. Flooding in the 1990s that destroyed the largely mountainous country's arable land left millions hungry. Following the famine, the number of North Koreans fleeing the country through China rose dramatically, with many telling tales of hunger, political persecution and rights abuses that officials in Pyongyang emphatically denied. Kim often blamed the U.S. for his country's troubles and his regime routinely derides Washington-allied South Korea as a 'puppet' of the Western superpower.   Nuke ambitions: Kim sought to build up the country's nuclear arms arsenal, which culminated in North Korea's first nuclear test explosion, an underground blast conducted in October 2006.  Leader: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il (right) and South Korea's President Roh Moo-hyun pose in this 2007 photo during a joint statement in Pyongyang   Dictator: Kim Jong Il rose began his reign of the Communist regime after the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994. There were rumours about his health, but he appeared relatively vigorous in photos and video from recent trips to China and Russia and in numerous trips around the country |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No one else can ever make your choices for you.
Your choices are yours alone. They are as much
a part of you as every breath you will take,
every moment of your life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You cannot manage your life if you do not manage
your self. You cannot manage your self if you do
not manage your choices. Manage your choices,
and you will manage your life.
__._,_.___
" Minuman para Anbia : http://higoat-2009.blogspot.com/"
" Anda masih mencari jodoh? Lawati http://www.myjodoh.net"
" Kertas Soalan Ramalan Matematik 2010 : http://maths-catch.com/exam"
" Kedai Maya : http://halawahenterprise.blogspot.com/"
" Blog Sahabat RG : http://azwandengkil.blogspot.com"
Terima kasih kerana sudi bersama kami. Untuk mendapatkan maklumat lanjut tentang ReSpeKs Group, sila ke : http://respeks-group.blogspot.com.
Segala email yang tersiar melalui Respeks Group adalah tanggungjawab penulis asal email. Owner atau moderator tidak bertanggungjawab ke atas setiap email yang disiarkan dan sebarang dakwa dakwi tiada kena mengena dengan moderator group.
" Anda masih mencari jodoh? Lawati http://www.myjodoh.net"
" Kertas Soalan Ramalan Matematik 2010 : http://maths-catch.com/exam"
" Kedai Maya : http://halawahenterprise.blogspot.com/"
" Blog Sahabat RG : http://azwandengkil.blogspot.com"
Terima kasih kerana sudi bersama kami. Untuk mendapatkan maklumat lanjut tentang ReSpeKs Group, sila ke : http://respeks-group.blogspot.com.
Segala email yang tersiar melalui Respeks Group adalah tanggungjawab penulis asal email. Owner atau moderator tidak bertanggungjawab ke atas setiap email yang disiarkan dan sebarang dakwa dakwi tiada kena mengena dengan moderator group.
MARKETPLACE
.
__,_._,___
No comments:
Post a Comment