It must have been a sudden death, any smart dictator knows you have to purge your inner circle prior to death if you want to ensure an easy succession.

The reason that a tour of a grocery store is a big deal in NK is because people are poor, starving, and miserable. If you survived on a bowl of rice a day for a decade, you'd probably be pretty psyched about a supermarket.

Edit: I lived briefly in a relatively poor city in Russia in 1993, and the new supermarket there was a huge deal. Obviously NK is way way more poor than 1993 Russia.

There's a massive difference between the *******s who rule the middle east and the total psychopaths who rule North Korea.

It's hard to imagine a human being who's had normal human contact ruling North Korea in the way that Kim Jong-Il did. But, obviously some dude who's been raised by Kim Jong-Il is pretty ****ed up, and doubly so since he apparently returned afterwards.

North Korea's standard operating policy when the crap goes down domestically is to create an international incident to deflect attention away from problems at home. So this could be nasty.

F this dictator. His human rights violations, treatment of his fellow man, and ignorance is on par with LV nightclub promoters.

Anyone else ever see the satellite photo of N Korea at night? It was totally dark because the country is so poor they can't run the lights at night. Pretty bleak.

Eh.. I dunno. I think they usually do **** like that to get attention. I don't think they really want the outside world paying much attention to them right now except to think "Wow, North Korea sure is stable and Kim Jong-un sure does lead it really well!"

I assume that the major risk right now is an ugly power struggle. In the long term, who knows how the hell new North Korea will behave.

Even if the total dream scenario happens and the south and the north reunite, that's a huge ****ing mess. I mean.. East and West Germany was a pretty big mess, and this is a country where the average income is like $30k/year (one of the highest in the world) joining with a country where the average income is like $1500/year (one of the lowest in the world). The psychological damage to the 24M people must be enormous as well.

The only reason China kind of helps N Korea is so they don't all come over the border. The last thing China wants is having to deal with that ****.

Google translate apparently doesn't do Korean that well. Here's the top headling:

Peoples and the entire Party and people yelling gunjangbyeong

I'm not sure anyone knows WTF N Korea is thinking or what will transpire. Should be fascinating though.

They prob gonna act tough with miltary marches and **** but don't want any conflicts... Wonder if son will continue the converations his dad was in with US

lol love the onion so much

http://www.theonion.com/articles/kim...ough-to,18374/

He was an obsessive micro-manager as well. He tried to take part in every single tiny decision possible. Based on some of the stuff I've read about him, it wouldn't shock me to hear he personally directed renovations to a shopping center.

There was another story of a foreign defector (who defected INTO Korea) walking along a path with Il's father and predecessor. The leader apparently remarked to the defector, a woman, how lovely it would be to have birdhouses on the tops of all the trees in the park they were walking in for the birds to come and sit in. Within a week, every single tree in the park had birdhouses all over the top of their branches.

Also worth noting after his father's death, it took Il a few years to consolidate all his power. The current path of succession has also been murky, although the 2nd eldest son whatever his name is has been pretty clearly groomed to be the successor... but it's possible there could be a power grab/struggle. The next few years in NK should be interesting, to say the least.

All Team America references aside (and I do find it very funny and appropriate that his legacy in American culture, something he adored very much, will be that of being mocked as a ronery, ronery puppet), the human rights conditions in that country are quite possibly the worst in the world. It's just a horror show. The government dissolving and/or the country falling apart would obviously be great for the liberated North Koreans, but it would also pose an incredible moral and ethical dilemma for the world, especially the South Koreans. The North Korean people are mostly brainwashed, have no concept of the outside world, think their leader is a deity and many are starving, poor and confined in prison camps. It is essentially Hitler's Germany if he had just closed up all the walls and not tried to invade everyone else. If you commit a political crime, not only are you thrown in prison, but your family and blood line will be punished generally up to THREE generations down the road for your actions. Their government also engaged in the abduction of foreigners across the world, including in Europe, to indoctrinate and enslave as cultural icons or sources of outside knowledge. Just a horrible, horrible man and ruling family.

pretty much this

Ok time for NK to open its borders FTW.


I think they should deregulate. A LOT.

They still dont do a very good job of it. Like if you ever go to dan dong (where the border crossing is between china and n. korea) it has significantly less security than LAX. 80% sure i could jump that border if so desired.

lol, good luck with that.

i would guess this causes many more to be incarcerated and starved and executed as a display of power.

then what are you gonna do?

he's going to tokyo disney!

yeah I can't really say was more making an educated death. I would still think that China will step up the border security though after this

Tonight at work, when the news hit:

"Kim Jong Il is dead."

"Wow, I'm surprised he admitted it."

"He probably died ten years ago, they're just now telling us about it."

"Hope the people rise up and Occupy Pyongyang."

Dead silence after that last one. Can I help it if I'm the only guy in the room who knows the capital of NK?

RIP to apparently one of the world's greatest energy conservationists