Kim Jong-Il dead at 69

[The Last Horseman]

The mystery surrounding his son makes me worry more than Kim himself. His son's mother is only known to the son and Kim. Something about that screams this is not good to me. Born in secrecy, destined to be secretive.

[Inazuma]

This is good news. Let's hope that the next leader of North Korea fixes some of the massive horrible problems the country has.

[YoshiEgg25]

Rest in peace Glorious Leader. May you be able to continue looking at things wherever you are now.

http://kimjongillookingatthings.tumblr.com/

[Ack]

Good.

[EvilRyu2099]

From all reports his son is the same or worse.. But it's amazing that Gaddafi goes down then a couple of months later Kim Jon-Il as well..

[o.pwuaioc]

First Osama bin Laden.

[chupon]

This is good news. His sons are just like him though.

[johnblade]

I won't celebrate the death of Kim Jong Il as now, this is where we will see whether or not the son can somewhat take over his dad work or will they be a power struggle where either the top officials or generals will use this time to try to over thrown his son.

[Flake]

This is good news. His sons are just like him though.

Actually, that's the thing: We don't know yet.

Kim Jong-Nam was the heir apparent for many years. In 2001 he embarrassed the regime when he was caught by the Japanese trying to sneak through Narita airport to go to Tokyo Disneyland on a forged passport. It was a huge debacle and, as a result, Nam has pretty much lived in exile in Northern China until the last few years where he has been allowed to come back to Pyongyang and assume a largely ceremonial role. His temperament is largely unknown but he is thought to be a little...slow.

The middle brother, Kim Jong Chul is an even bigger mystery. Only a few public photos exist and almost everything we know about him comes from the memoirs of a man who claimed to have been Kim Jong Il's personal chef for many years - as close as we know, he has possibly been passed up due to alleged homosexuality or being "too feminine".

Kim Jong Un is a freaking mystery. We don't even know his true age. The best guess intelligence analysts have is 29-30. Until just a couple years ago, when he was appointed to the military commission (a typical signal that training for the top spot in the DPRK has begun) we did not even have a photograph of him. All we know about him is this:

- Physically, he resembles Kim Il Sung
- He is purported to love basketball
- He supposedly is more of an artist like his father
- His existence was hidden from Kim Il Sung until he was on his deathbed because the boy's mother is not well thought of.
- He has zero practical military experience
- He was educated in Switzerland but disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

...and that is it. The hope is, of course, that he might be a more moderate leader than his father and grandfather. The worry is that, with only three years training, he will not have the necessary political capital to control the military and the entire country could fall into chaos, potentially reigniting the conflict and destroying the cease fire.

[EvilRyu2099]

First Osama bin Laden.

I don't think Osama was considered a dictator by the time he was fragged..