Except that Kim Jong-Il was 52 when he took power. His son is in his 20’s.
BBC just said 30. Not that it makes that much difference. A whelp’s a whelp.
The South Korean stock exchange has reportedly fallen 5% in the hour.
Kim’s Wikipedia page has already listed the death as December 17 and – ominously perhaps – listed his successor as TBD (“to be determined”).
The King is dead! Long live the King!
But who is the new leader?
The front page BBC article says;
“His designated successor is believed to be his third son, Kim Jong-un, who is thought to be in his late 20s.”
The North Korean Military declared an Emergency. So have the South Koreans.
That would be a good point if some of us didn’t actually remember 1982. Western analysts did not view Kim Jong Il’s succession as a foregone conclusion, and it was family ties that ensured it.
I see no reason that family ties should not also prevail now.
As above, we’ll see.
Honestly, I’ll be a lot more worried if control of the country goes to someone from the older generation.
Funeral arrangements have been announced. Pyongyang, December 28.
As I said in the other thread (GD), I expect a wave of “retirements”, “car accidents” and “died of grief over the loss of the Dear Leader”. Probably will be a little bloody behind the scenes until it all shakes out.
Kim Jong-Un is any other would-be leader’s ticket to legitimacy. I would imagine he’d be a useful figurehead no matter who’s actually calling the shots.
That rat fink! Now I have to update my list! :mad:
Honestly, every time I pick someone I’m sure of, they go and die early.
{Corrected post; see below.}
Scoring so many holes-in-one takes it out of a man.
North Korea’s only website seems to be down. A shame as I was looking forward to witnessing the horrifying expressions of grief like when Kim Il-Sung died.
Or perhaps he ran that too.
Or maybe he was just il.
It’s a hanbok, not a kimono.
Anyway, it’s now 12:52 p.m., Monday here in South Korea. The school lunch break began at 12:30 p.m. As soon as we teachers returned to our offices, we got the news. The entire school is abuzz. Many think that this will bring forward reunification. I, on the other hand, agree with a friend who’s a retired South Korean Navy officer, that there will never be reunification.
Yeah, not in our lifetimes anyway.
[Nelson] HAW-haw!
Well, if even a tenth of the rumors of all the nubile young females who were rounded up for his enjoyment were true, he must have scored a lot of holes-in-one indeed. 
Ah yes. Thank you.
It’s very possible that this will lead to the collapse of the North Korean regime. Word is that even the elite troops and police the regime depends upon to maintain itself in power are having a harder and harder time staying warm and getting enough to eat. Nobody has any real confidence in or respect for Kim Jong Il’s doofus son, and believe it or not there are other factions competing for power.
It’s not a question of if. It’s a question of when. I can’t help wondering how many of the big shots are running for the exits right now.
Reunification my arse.
This news makes me extremely nervous.
Could be very very good, could be very very VERY bad. Hopefully some of those still in high places will have learned something about having a raving lunatic megalomaniac in absolute power and use this as an opportunity for serious reform.
Or it’ll just be business as usual for another five decades.
One thing, get ready for days of footage of manipulated, ignorant, pathetic people screaming & shrieking in sorrow for an evil mass-murderer’s death…
Beat you to it. Thread already here.