N Korea 'Test Fires Missile' After Kim's Death

North Korea has reportedly conducted a short-range missile test - just hours after it revealed leader Kim Jong-il had died of heart failure aged 69.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted unidentified government officials as saying the missile was fired off the peninsula's east coast.
It comes on the same day the North announced via state TV that Kim, who ruled for 17 years and tormented the West with his nuclear weapons testing, died on Saturday.
People in the country's capital Pyongyang wept openly in the streets, while the rest of the world called for calm and South Korea put its military on high alert.
The so-called "hermit kingdom" will now be led by Kim's youngest son, Jong-un, who is aged in his 20s, was educated in Europe and is said to speak several languages.
In recent months he had accompanied his father on trips around the impoverished nation after being named as successor in September 2010.

But the late Kim's long pursuit of nuclear weapons and the military's repeated threats to South Korea and the US have stoked fears that war could again break out.
Military officials in South Korea said they could not confirm the missile test report - but MPs had earlier been called to a national security council meeting following the news of Kim's death.
Even with a new leader in place, there have been some fears of a behind-the-scenes power struggle within the military.
Sky News' Asia correspondent Holly Williams, who has visited North Korea several times, said: "Kim Jong-un has been announced by state media as 'The Great Successor'.
"But the questions is, will he be able to hang onto that power with the iron grip that his father had?"
The North's official news agency said the country, people and military "must faithfully revere respectable comrade Kim Jong-un.
"We have to change sadness to strength and courage and overcome today's difficulties," it said.
GRIEVING NORTH KOREANS MOURN THE DEATH OF KIM JONG-IL

In a special broadcast from the capital Pyongyang, state television said the man known as the 'Dear Leader' died while travelling on a private train.
It added that he died of heart failure due to "great mental and physical strain" during a "high intensity field inspection".
Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008 but appeared relatively vigorous in video and photos from recent trips carefully documented by the country's media.
The man who reportedly had a taste for cigars, cognac and gourmet cuisine was also said to have suffered from diabetes and heart disease.
"It is the biggest loss for the party... and it is our people and nation's biggest sadness," said a weeping state TV presenter.
China, Pyongyang's key ally, said in a statement it was shocked by news of Kim's death and sends its "sincere regards" to the North Korean people.

More at:


http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16133036

plus videos of spontaneous mourning.

So, how long do we give the Great Successor before he is toppled in some coup, or uprising?

His son worries me. He will want to prove himself and firing missiles is one way of doing it.

Odd that this one seems to be the youngest son, Tony. What happened to the older ones? Because I somehow don't think Communist dogma is going to stop them thinking they should have been the next Dear Leader...

bb1 wrote:Odd that this one seems to be the youngest son, Tony. What happened to the older ones? Because I somehow don't think Communist dogma is going to stop them thinking they should have been the next Dear Leader...

One is dead, I think he drowned, edited to correct, the eldest oner is disgraced, the other one was not considered good leader material. This lad is the third and last son. LL

This blog is interesting:

http://pjmedia.com/blog/will-north-korea-collapse-part-two/?singlepage=true

Frankly, the sooner the regime collapses and the outside world can get food, etc., in, the better.

I am actually watching a NG documentary about life in N. Korea just now; apart from the elite, the population seem to live in conditions that would have shamed the Middle Ages.

My daughter lives in S Korea with her partner and 4 adopted children, one of whom is North Korean, smuggled into the South after his parents were executed for 'treason'. At present my lass and family are in Japan, they went there a week ago to visit her brother and his family. She will be staying in Japan until such time as it is considered safe for her and the children to return home. The North practices sabre-rattling every time they want more help with the starving populace. Millions have died from starvation and disease while the money is spent on maintaining an army and building nuclear weapons and factories to make bombs etc. An interesting comment on the TV today was that, although we tend to think of N Korea as communist, it is far more a right wing fascist country in its ideology. LL

Just had an email from my daughter who said that all the wailing and grief is totally orchestrated; maybe a few are genuine, but mostly they are paid mourners, a bit like in the UK when people were paid to wail and tear their hair. She said from what she could see, some of them may well have been laughing! She says N Koreans do what they are told as they know the consequences of disobedience. LL

Thanks, LL, it's good to get insight from people who are a bit nearer to it than we are.

I somehow didn't think the spontaneous mourning was any too genuine; I suppose some will be scared that the future is uncertain, and the party hacks will be worried about their hides if there is regime change, or turmoil.

It would be nice to think that this time next year there could be some signs of civilization in N. Korea - fewer warheads and more full stomachs would be a good start.

Spontaneous mourning in the style of spontaneous displays of loyalty to Gaddafi.

More spontaneous mourning:



Do you suppose they are thinking, This is ridiculous, I've had enough of this, when am I going to be able to buy a Big Mac in this Godforsaken country?

Don't you just hate it...you wait years for a state funeral and then you all wear the same bloody outfit.

So they are ,mf.

Latest email from my daughter

" .... the people in black suits are 'civil servants' from the ministries, ordered to show their grief to the world. In some pictures you can see that about 4 rows back and continuing to the outer edge of the crowds there is no crying, no wailing, no banging of heads on the ground or each other, just a dull acceptance that things will not change; people will die of cold, hunger and disease while the dictatorship spends even more on armaments. The refugees that manage to get into S Korea tell of dreadful treatment at the hands of local 'gauleiters' - for want of a better word. They feel lost, unwanted and unloved; many will kill themselves and their families rather than continue to live like no other people in the world. For these people the sun has not risen since 1948."

What difference is there between Assad in Syria and the N Korean dynasty? He claims no ruler kills his own people, a blatant lie; that's the same mindset the N Koreans use to show how life in the reclusive state is on a par with Shangri La. LL

They feel lost, unwanted and unloved; many will kill themselves and their families rather than continue to live like no other people in the world. For these people the sun has not risen since 1948."

That is desperately sad, LL. Poor souls......