Kim Jong-Un: North Korea's enigmatic heir apparent

"aged in his late 20s"

Don't they know exactly how old the kid is?

U.S. lawmaker Rep Don Manzullo: "Kim Jong Il was the epitome of evil, a dictator of the worst kind who ruled his country with an iron fist and dished out constant pain and misery to his people"

Manzullo must be mistaken, all North Koreans were crying at this devastating news.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman has it right - Ma Zhaoxu praised Kim as a "great leader" who made "important contributions" to relations with China.

@Serrano,

Don't they know exactly how old the kid is? For some reason, it is difficult to come by clear information about many things North Korean, but they have the 'Kid' down to being born 1983 or 1984.

Manzullo must be mistaken, all North Koreans were crying at this devastating news. I am sure,, some did not dare not to cry. Many others are, I am sure part of the mass psychosis. I actually think they have something like a Stockholm syndrome relationship with their leaders.

The ones that do not love the Dear Great Leader dearly has already been locked up in concentration camps or worse.

There's always hope. Every man must choose his own way. We all inherit something from our parents but often the case there are many things that we do not.

He may choose to love his country in a different way. Obviously if he studied in Switzerland then he knows some of the beauty of the outside world. He may choose to share that with his people. It's a difficult thing to do.

Especially the Internet. That's a move that would make most of their military cringe with fear. Once you give your people of a taste of that there's no going back. Even if they hate Westerners through and through.....the Internet is infectious and will ultimately be the downfall of any regime that opposes the basic principals written in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

You can't have one without the other. If you want the products then you have to open the door to advertising. Advertisers and companies will push for Internet access.

As soon as North Korea connects that's it. Your world just changed.

The alternative is to continue to keep your country in the dark ages. It's his choice. You can't say that the rest of the world is responsible for your situation. You can't divorce ideas from their culture, thus you can't your cake and eat it too.

My two cents: Give your people a chance. There will be friction. Open the doors, open your airports. Send them out to learn and allow people to decorate your country a bit more.

N. Koreans were duped and brainwashed to shed tears for dear leader who will pay his due in hell of tormented place. The question is how long this young gun going to last?

He's apparently has surgery to make him look like his dad. He's just like him - fat, selfish and well in over his head. I think the Swiss school that educated needs to come clean about him - and why they took him.

It would be nice to think he'll change and it'll be rainbows and stars for the people but let's be honest, if he's been raised to think he's better, enjoys the power and wealth, he could end up being worse than his dad as he's got something to prove.

If he needs to watch out for anyone it is his uncle. From the books I've read, Il's sister was pushing for her husband to take over until the son was ready. Add in the two older brothers who must be pissed.... Not looking good.

Anyone else noticed that the Japanese TV programs are not using "san" for any of them??

It's amazing how one of his college friends said he was good a basketball. I cant see this little fat dork running up and down a court.

“chip off the old block, a spitting image of his father in terms of face, body shape and personality.”

It appears that among its other amazing scientific breakthroughs, the North Koreans have managed to clone humans.

Kim Il-sung was charismatic, Kim Jong Il was cunning and fearful and had very good acquaintanceship and was even capable to control his generals to some extent, Kim Jong-Un gonna have hard times staying in power. Not a big issue, Korea is just one of the dozens of poor countries in the world (soon there will be more) but with a huge army. So, generals might as well opt to die. Generals only interested in proceeding with war, that's the only thing they can do. Kim Jong-Un is not a miracle clue. My guess is they will simply unite the two Korea.

Why would the south Koreans want to reunite? The North will bankrupt them. Germany had a hard time with it and East Germany was nowhere near as brainwashed nor as poor.

@tmarie

We can't always do want we want.

I think the Swiss school that educated needs to come clean about him - and why they took him.

I expect they took him because the fees were paid on time. Do they need any other reason?

The timing of Kim's death just seems to perfect for me to eliminate the possibility of coup d'etat: he died relatively young, on a train, of a heart attack - just a month before 2012, when the "strong and prosperous state" was to be realized, and in late December, when weather discourages people from gathering outside and meager foodstuffs must anyway be protected at home from thieves, and before the New Year, so the Dear Leader's replacement can all be done with and forgotten as quickly as possible.

So the question is not whether the people will follow Jong-Un; the question is who controls Jong-Un, what will they do with him, and what are their plans. Only time will tell, but look for hints in how Kim is remembered.

** I think the Swiss school that educated needs to come clean about him - and why they took him.

I expect they took him because the fees were paid on time. Do they need any other reason? ** I would think so. Plenty of schools wouldn't take him for the fact that his father was a nasty dictator. Look at the LSE and all the crap they got over Quadfi's son. Not unusual for schools not to want to take people from such families.

I can't see a unification in the cards for the two countries. China wouldn't let that happen.

@Liberman2012: Of course China wants to see a unified Korea, that will be a great relief of everyyear's huge contributions to North Korea! It was US playing big bully threatening China and wants to raise troubles across the Yalu river! What those pentagon hawks wants is heated Korean peninsula to yell 'wolves! wolves! Wolves' to scare and prey over the Korean people! It was definately a tragedy for thousand of Korean families seperated because a unwelcome guest kicking around in the name of 'freedom'!

Let's hope North Korea does not once again initiate an invasion, just to show Kim Jong-Un has balls.

Let's hope North Korea does not once again initiate an invasion, just to show Kim Jong-Un has balls.

Just throw the fat tub-of -lard a pork chop. That should quiet him for a few weeks.