Peace Out Kim Jong Il

downtownrobbrowndowntownrobbrown 446 Posts
edited December 2011 in Strut Central
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
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  Comments


  • I never find joy in death, not even the deaths of those who have done wrong to so many, but this news came as a complete surprise. I pray that there can be more peace and civility found in North Korea after this death, but the news of his son taking over doesn't make that prayer of mine very promising.

  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Time for a change.

  • minimini 879 Posts
    Rot in Hell

    :f-u:

  • dammsdamms 704 Posts
    damms said:

    kim jong trill

  • Rest In Piss

  • staxwaxstaxwax 1,474 Posts
    Gone to that great optician in the sky - 2011 has been a horrible year for dictators


  • chimachima 33 Posts

  • KineticKinetic 3,739 Posts
    chima said:

    I presume that this is real footage, but it seems so over the top that it's almost funny.

  • tabiratabira 856 Posts
    How Hitchens would loved to have seen this day, if not the video which I find completely freaky.

  • incompletejigsaw said:
    I never find joy in death, not even the deaths of those who have done wrong to so many

    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.

  • that video is straaaaange. but hey, don't underestimate the psychological mess of a population who hasnt lived under any other form of government.

  • Options
    tripledouble said:
    that video is straaaaange. but hey, don't underestimate the psychological mess of a population who hasnt lived under any other form of government.

    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.

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    NK is such a strange place. Professional mourners? Could Be.
    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.

  • staxwaxstaxwax 1,474 Posts
    Sween said:
    tripledouble said:
    that video is straaaaange. but hey, don't underestimate the psychological mess of a population who hasnt lived under any other form of government.

    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.

    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.

  • Sween said:
    tripledouble said:
    that video is straaaaange. but hey, don't underestimate the psychological mess of a population who hasnt lived under any other form of government.

    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.

    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.

  • staxwaxstaxwax 1,474 Posts
    10 facts you never knew about KJI - according to official NK propaganda

    Top 10 crazy facts about kim jong ill

    for one: he invented the hamburger.

  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    Watch all 3 parts of the visiting North Korea doc (embedding on here wasn't working properly):

    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".

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Radio just said that when Il's father died people were punished for not mourning.
    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.

  • AlmondAlmond 1,427 Posts
    The scenes of mourning are absolutely bizarre, but I guess sobbing theatrical tears is part of North Korean civic duty. Brainwash.

  • AlmondAlmond 1,427 Posts
    The scenes of mourning are absolutely bizarre, but I guess sobbing theatrical tears is part of North Korean civic duty. Brainwash.

  • his death got kimjongillookingatthings into the wall street journal!

    http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2011/12/20/will-blog-of-kim-jong-il-looking-at-things-live-on/

  • kalakala 3,361 Posts
    rot in hell juche bag

  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,784 Posts
    He smiles in this one:


    Looking at vodka.

  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    willie_fugal said:
    his death got kimjongillookingatthings into the wall street journal!

    http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2011/12/20/will-blog-of-kim-jong-il-looking-at-things-live-on/

    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.


  • p_gunnp_gunn 2,284 Posts
    Almond said:
    The scenes of mourning are absolutely bizarre, but I guess sobbing theatrical tears is part of North Korean civic duty. Brainwash.

    after laughter, comes tearz...


  • staxwax said:
    10 facts you never knew about KJI - according to official NK propaganda

    Top 10 crazy facts about kim jong ill

    for one: he invented the hamburger.

    a Hamburger? well, what do they call a Double Bread with Meat then?


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