Commie NK leader dead

[ouwasp]

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

[ouwasp]

His son, Kim Jong Un, is heading the funeral committee. Wonder how long before the usual threats of war and "seas of fire" are directed toward south Korea and Japan?

[Blue]

Military Coup to follow shortly.

[Okla-homey]

Dead daddy set up a Roman style triumvirate before he croaked. His sister, sister's hubby and this 20-something kid will rule jointly until the kid is old enough to run it by himself. Word is, the kid has the necessary ruthlessness to replace his dead pops eventually.

[badger]

The family:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/dprk/images/kim-jong-il-family-image1.jpg

It was said that the oldest was the successor till he did a few things that embarrassed them too much(something about faking documents to visit a foreign Disney park???) and the middle child was too "effeminate" (no joke). The youngest was seen as someone that had the same temper and mannerisms as daddy, making him the perfect heir. This is a more recent pic after years of apparent spoiling:

http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/1010_du/8784697-1-eng-US/1010_DU_full_600.jpg

He is only 27 years old. I fully expect a hostile takeover attempt, either by one of North Korea's own or one of the many (or them all collectively) growing list of enemies. China, its only strong ally, may or may not try to stop such an attempt... they're good at looking out for their own interests first and foremost, and North Korea is a pretty weak, poor ally.

[bigfatjerk]

Military Coup to follow shortly.

Military has been firmly in control of that country for the last 60+ years.

[badger]

Military has been firmly in control of that country for the last 60+ years.

It's the golden food rule... whoever has the golden food isn't starving and therefore makes the rules :(

I could just see someone more entrenched in the military than a spoiled rich heir that's only been closely tied to the brainwashing campaigns since 2008 overthrowing the Kims.

[Doged]

Remember that the heir apparent was promoted to 4 star general a while back, so yea, military will continue their dominance.

[badger]

I am not sure how controlled the North Korean media is (all I know is "very!") but if they had any word of the uprising of protests overseas, they might be prompted to start their own revolution. Hell, they might anyway.

[Jacie]

A number of comments from the early reports on this.

One was that because NK has been suffering chronic food shortages for some time (though from recent video of Kim Jong Un, it doesn't appear he has missed too many meals), there won't be a lot of interest from the general public to protest anything.

Then there was the incident of the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel by NK forces. This was said to be an attempt by junior to "earn his stripes" with the military since he never served a day in the armed forces and that the "great successor" may want to provoke more such incidents for this same reason.

[ouwasp]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-congress/2011/12/mccain-kim-jongil-in-warm-corner-of-hell-108054.html

McCain sez KIm Il Sung is roasting in a "warm corner of hell" with the likes of Hitler and Stalin... heh...

[badger]

Wow! Even Inhofe wasn't that dramatic :)

Link (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=335&articleid=20111219_335_0_USeJmI829485)

It's amazing that a country that is connected to a superpower like China would be such a sh!tty place to live... but the rest of the world might be saying the same thing about Mexico being connected to us, yet everybody wants to jump the border. Remember when they were threatening the lives of the North Korea World Cup players' families if the players didn't return home afterward? They even sent non-North Koreans to cheer for the team, probably outta fear that the rest of the world would see malnourished unhappiness :(

[hawaii 5-0]

Maybe we can get out of Korea now. What's it been 60 years since a battle?

5-0

[Peach Fuzz]

Maybe we can get out of Korea now. What's it been 60 years since a battle?

5-0
I doubt we give up a strategic base. The military's philosophy is keep the fight overseas, Korea is our direct threat to Rus/China/NK. It keeps them sober.

[badger]

At first I was happy at this news. Then, as I read more and more into it, I started to worry.

What if this Kim Jong-il was murdered? He apparently was publicly appearing and in good health just days ago.

What if his son, the great successor Kim Jong-un, was responsible for the murder? What if to prove himself as a great military leader who has no military experience, he does something drastic to put the world on notice that North Korea has enriched uranium ready to explode from short and long distances? What if the son is crazier and more power hungry that the crazy loon father?

But then again, what if someone else killed Dear Leader and plans to do the same to Great Successor in the name of making North Korea a less-starved, less-military country?

This could go so many different directions.

[hawaii 5-0]

I doubt we give up a strategic base. The military's philosophy is keep the fight overseas, Korea is our direct threat to Rus/China/NK. It keeps them sober.


I would think our fleet of Nuclear Subs would be even more of a direct threat than 50K soldiers guarding a border crossing in Korea.


We would be better served guarding the border crossing between us and Mexico.
5-0