news Kim Jong Il died

[Ci7]

This is extraordinarily dangerous.

Kim Jong-un, his ~28 y/o son, has.not been prepared as long as expected. His regents, Kim Jung Il's sister & her husband, are politically weak themselves but regarded overseas as "evil" even in diplomatic circles. This may force Kim Jung-un to make an aggressive move vs. the South to solidify his position.

It's also possible China could move to take over NK "to restore order" in which case NK nukes could fly at China, conventionals or nukes at the South & US forces to get us involved, or both. Basically; take everyone down with them.

Or....the populace could do everyones worst nightmare; head across the border into China & SK.

This could get ugly.

or in a brighter way , poplance rise up against little kim gov (Arab spring style )

or coup by Military top brass?

[DocM]

The Army, or at least most of it, would not allow that. It's also possible the Army could fracture and we'd see a civil war. What's troubling about that is that their nuclear command & control systems are suspected to be distributed, commanders can independently launch strikes, not centralized like the US.

[mudslag]

And here we go

[Gutierrez]

now what? nuclear warfare?. who cares, btw

if they dont cry, they would be immediately exterminated and their family sacrificed

[FMH]

The announcer, wearing black, said he had died on Saturday of physical and mental over-work.

Yeah right! He died of living a life of absolute luxury, while the rest of North Korea died of hunger and overworking. :rolleyes:

[Spyder Veteran]

died on december 17th... my birthday :o

happy birthday!

[FMH]

And here we go

Look at them all so well-dressed, and standing in a grid format in uniforms.

Mourning in an orderly fashion.

Most of them are puppets. And they are trying to send this strange, and unreal impression to the outside world.

[Eddo89]

The issue is not whether it is the son (third one I believe) will lead, or any of the Kim family. It is whether they submit to the generals, which is why it is more dangerous.

Revered as Kim Jong Il was, the same could not be said for the rest of the family, brother or son. It is the perfect time for the generals to actually take over, with the army behind them, they are primed to grab a big slice of the cake. They won't dare to move when Jong Il was alive as the country and army would surely had been been behind him.

In any scenario, it is not unlikely NK would try to be aggressive, if not physical certainly in foreign policies. Unfortunately, I don't think they are a nation of prudence, even if Iran is bad as the West paint them as to be, you always have the feeling they know what is their best interests. I cannot say for NK. Though I doubt the extremity of Kim's policies would be reflected in whoever is going to be his predecessor, at worse we are going to see an increased armed force.

[Knife Party]

putting all politics and the west vs n.korea aside, I'm happy to hear that he is finally dead (Y) (Y), the amount of unnecessary suffering and problems he has caused because of his stupid selfishness should easily pave his way to hell if it existed .

[ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm]

And here we go

that's brain washing for you.

[PGHammer]

Yeah right! He died of living a life of absolute luxury, while the rest of North Korea died of hunger and overworking. :rolleyes:

The Kims built an old-fashioned *cult of personality* in the DPRK - it's not a Communist state in the Soviet (except maybe Stalinist) model, or even the PRC model. Even the PRC has issues with the DPRK (in fact, they had issues with them while Kim Il-Sung was alive). The Kims have been the PRC's Noriega/Saddam/Shah - an embarrassment they are, unfortunately, stuck with. (That's not my opinion, either, though I do share it - that is the rather candid opinion of the PRC government, admitted during the last six-party talks about DPRK nuclear disarmament.)

[DrakeN2k]

I did not know that kim jonh ill :o

:p

[Miuku.]

that's brain washing for you.

And to think you vote equal lunatics in charge in a "democratic" country.

[Dick Montage]

Should I send a card? Flowers?

[Xerax]

? Kim Jong Il ? Khaddafi ? Osama Bin Laden ? Saddam Hussein ? Internet Explorer 6 (Saw this on Twitter) :rofl:

fixed ;).

[Ci7]

And here we go

those people are such a tool

crying over the President/dictator/whatever

really? wouldn't give a **** personally

[Crisp]

I guess his Korea is over then.

[Knife Party]

Should I send a card? Flowers?

nah :hmmm:

[Xerax]

those people are such a tool

crying over the President/dictator/whatever

really? wouldn't give a **** personally

You're not living that that type of society/political state though are you?

[thommcg]

those people are such a tool

crying over the President/dictator/whatever

really? wouldn't give a **** personally

Because if they don't, they may get in trouble with the authorities.

[ahhell]

Because if they don't, they may get in trouble with the authorities.

Exactly. It's just more propaganda as well.

[Black Flash]

I'm hoping to see a reunified Korea sometime in my life. South Korea is the only developed nation in the world that is still seeing the growth rates of a developing nation, already on pace to overtake Australia, Canada and several European nations on the economic stage. Imagine what they could be if the reunited with North Korea?

[Anibal P]

I'm hoping to see a reunified Korea sometime in my life. South Korea is the only developed nation in the world that is still seeing the growth rates of a developing nation, already on pace to overtake Australia, Canada and several European nations on the economic stage. Imagine what they could be if the reunited with North Korea?

Aside from the issues of reintegrating a whole country full of brainwashed people, reunifying the Koreas would actually hurt their overall economy for a few years, remember most N. Koreans are subsistence farmers, they would add to the burdens S Korea already has, N. Korea does not have enough educated workers to employ even IF there were enough jobs for a majority of them.

A much as I too would love to see a reunited Democratic Korea, it won't be easy or pretty for a long time if/when it happens.

[DocM]

I've seen costestimates for reunification from $1T to $1.5T

Who pays?

[V9s]