Peace Out Kim Jong Il
downtownrobbrown
446 Posts
SEOUL, South Korea - Kim Jong Il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic leader, has died. He was 69.
Kim's death was announced Monday by the state television from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.
Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008 but appeared relatively vigorous in photos and video from recent trips to China and Russia and in numerous trips around the country carefully documented by state media. The leader, reputed to have had a taste for cigars, cognac and gourmet cuisine, was believed to have had diabetes and heart disease.
He has already designated his son, Kim Jong-un, as his heir apparent. The Dear Leader took over the reigns in North Korea sometime between 1992 and 1994 after the death of his father, Kim Il-sung, who had ruled the country for 46 years.
The Kims seem poised to extend their more than 60-year dictatorial dynasty, but North Korean politics has long been shrouded in misinformation and mystery to the rest of the world. It is worth noting that many of the conditions that sparked the recent uprisings in the Mideast, like mass poverty and rampant corruption, exist in North Korea. That said, dissent is apparently crushed so thoroughly, it is hard to imagine any real democratic reforms in the The Democratic People's Republic of Korea anytime soon.
I hope things there now get better for the people.
Anyone check out the Vice series on North Korean labor camps in Siberia?
http://www.vice.com/vice-news/north-korean-labor-camps-part-1
Comments
:f-u:
I presume that this is real footage, but it seems so over the top that it's almost funny.
I tend to agree with this but Kim was a terribly bad bad bad person. The world is better without him. I, sadly, don't hold that same kind of hope for NK.
Not sure if it holds true for North Korea, but don't some Asian cultures hire professional mourners for funeral services to chase away bad spirits? I heard something like this recently when someone I know whose parents are from China had to go back there for his dad's funeral.
Government employees, who have totally bought into the myth of Kim Jong Il? Perhaps.
I like to think the bulk of the Korean people are silently rejoicing in their homes, hoping tomorrow brings food and freedom.
There is no doubt in my mind this is all some enacted shit - no video gets out of NK without regime approval. 90% of the populace is near starvation supposedly.
Professional mourners are practically a worldwide thing and have been for centuries - never caught on in the States, though.
The people in the video were probably 'hired' at gunpoint.
Top 10 crazy facts about kim jong ill
for one: he invented the hamburger.
http://www.vice.com/video
Does anyone know the word North Korea uses to describe their state philosophy? It's like Joku or Joko or something like that, loosely translated to "Fuck the West" & "Self Sufficiency".
People who went around their business as if it was just another day were jailed.
If professional means I don't want to be killed, those are professional mourners.
http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2011/12/20/will-blog-of-kim-jong-il-looking-at-things-live-on/
Looking at vodka.
That blog is strangely hypnotic. After the third page I started feeling like I was witnessing a bizarro version of Uncle "Travelling" Matt with accompanying Kim Jong Il postcard monologue running in my head.
after laughter, comes tearz...
a Hamburger? well, what do they call a Double Bread with Meat then?