Kim Jong Il... Ill?

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2008-09-10 11:51am

North Korea has dismissed reports that its leader Kim Jong-il might be seriously ill.

The country's nominal number two, Kim Yong-nam, told Japan's Kyodo news agency in Pyongyang that there was 'no problem'.

And a senior North Korean diplomat, Song Il-ho, told Kyodo earlier: 'We see such reports as not only worthless, but rather as a conspiracy plot.'

Speculation grew after the 66-year-old leader, widely believed to suffer from debilitating illnesses, failed to appear at a parade yesterday to mark the country's 60th anniversary.

The health concerns come just as the North appears to be going back on a deal with major powers to scrap a programme to develop nuclear weapons in return for massive financial aid and a chance to be accepted into the rest of the world.

But South Korean MPs said after a briefing by the country's intelligence chief that Mr Kim had suffered a stroke but his condition was under control.

The death of Kim Jong-il would create huge uncertainty over leadership in a country whose deep distrust of the outside world is backed by one of the globe's largest standing armies and probably has atomic weapons.

His health and the identity of any possible successor are two of the most closely guarded secrets in the paranoid state.

He's not a young man, and it appears that time may be catching up with him. Word yesterday was he'd had a stroke. What's a post-KJI North Korea look like?

salm · Post by **salm** » 2008-09-10 12:05pm

We´re probably going to see a longer or shorter struggle for power among top generals and Kim Jongs sons. There´s no designated successor afaik.

chitoryu12 · Post by **chitoryu12** » 2008-09-10 02:07pm

salm wrote:We´re probably going to see a longer or shorter struggle for power among top generals and Kim Jongs sons. There´s no designated successor afaik.

Exactly how many "candidates" are there for his successor? If there's plenty of generals and sons to go around, it may take a while for any definite leader to emerge.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2008-09-10 04:27pm

People report comrade Kim is ill/broke his leg horseback riding/defected to Angola/has been toppled by infant twins working for Satan, on a very regular basis, like monthly at least. I see no reason to think anything more of this report then all the others.

CJvR · Post by **CJvR** » 2008-09-11 02:18am

Well whatever it is lets hope it's nothing trivial, perhaps he tried the average NK food ration for a week.

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2008-09-11 02:35am

CJvR wrote:Well whatever it is lets hope it's nothing trivial, perhaps he tried the average NK food ration for a week.

He'd sooner send the cook in question to the Gulags, along with a few other people just to make sure a point was made.

Quite frankly, there's nothing that can be done beyond sitting and waiting to see how it all plays out. China, for one thing, will not tolerate an expansion of US presence and influence on the Korean Peninsula.