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© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.North Koreans rally around Kim Jong Il's heir
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HonestDictator
@Just-a-guy lol whut? The funny thing about the TRUTH is that it can never be denied. Its partly China's fault that they influenced NK to seperate from SK to implement the bad kind of communism that the USSR promoted. So uh, hate to break it to you, but when a country does something that helps direct another country to failure and suffering there is no point in glossing it over to ignore the "bad" parts. Remember those that forget history are doomed to repeat it? As an american I know what stupid stuff my country does and I acknowledge it instead of trying to white wash and put on rose colored glasses. As I said, Truth, Facts, and Reality can't be painted over, although the Chinese goverment thinks they can control their peoples minds forever, which is quite practically impossible.
just-a-guy
@honestdictator: Please dont blame China and former USSR screwing up another country...please! Show some respects to those fallen heros who fought with heroic courages above the 38th parallel! America screws with China's civil war from the begining there has a price to pay! You gamble, you lose, you have to pay and pass that debt to future generation!
HonestDictator
And this, my dear fellow posters is exactly the way every other monarchy in the world came into power. Someone got everyone else to think they were special. It would be nice if this one said, "Screw this old school commie cr@p" and start striking up a new path especially one that leads to unification with the south (and not through military means). Thanks China and the old USSR for screwing up another country for us people in the future.
oberst
Tears are mandatory, so said the dear Leader.....................
Wanda-kun
unreconstructedDec. 19, 2011 - 07:41PM JST Marx's pernicious, evil legacy continues...
What's Marx have to do with any of this? He's been dead for 100 years and was opposed not just to capitalism but tyrants as well. "Communist" leaders since Lenin have had Marx spinning in his grave.
The best we can hope for is a quick collapse as the infighting begins.
Triumvere
Glad I'm not in Seoul right now; things are going to be tense for a while.
yabits
I believe the odds are better than 75% that this new guy is going to suffer the same fate as the South Korean president did in October of 1979.
Unlike with the father and grandfather, it's going to be very tough to spin myths of celestial occurrences around this kid. I think a critical mass already recognizes that the whole thing is an evil farce. It is now only a matter of time.
avenger
They should hold elections. Why go by blood, north Korea is not the Kim's playground.
smithinjapan
Serrano: "Is there no one in the North Korean military opposed to letting this Kim Jong-Un kid take power?"
There most undoubtedly is, but what can they do? I have no doubt he'll be a puppet, but he'll still be in control on the surface, anyway. This wasn't a sudden decision, either -- it's been in the works for years, and known that the youngest would take power, not the oldest who is a dolt, and the middle son who is too effeminate.
tmarie
Is there no one in the North Korean military opposed to letting this Kim Jong-Un kid take power?
I'm thinking the two older brothers are pretty pissed - as is his sister's husband. All is not well.
Virtuoso
Shouldn't the last word in the headline be "hair"?
Kwaabish
rallying... perhaps at gunpoint...
Serrano
Is there no one in the North Korean military opposed to letting this Kim Jong-Un kid take power?
tmarie
Let us hope for a smooth transition.
Let's not. Let's hope that the people are fed up and do away with the family and the military monsters.
TorafusuTorasan
Is Japan Today being a little negligent in forgetting to report that Kim Jong Un's mom lived in Osaka, Japan, until middle school? To respond to Elbuda's statement that "all of his family were [treated as] gods", sure they ate well, but look at the way the two older sons, and many of the Kim women ended up. Only an elite few make it to the top politcally, and don't forget everyone in the military with real power are not members of the family at all.
Bebert61
or, dare i say it, reunification.
unreconstructed
Marx's pernicious, evil legacy continues...
Bebert61
Let us hope for a smooth transition.
smithinjapan
"...while people in the streets of Pyongyang broke into tears as they learned the news that Kim had died at the age 69 of heart failure."
This is one of the problems in regards to the situation. Whether or not 'everyone' in NK is upset about their leader dying, it will be them that make the headlines, and it will be them that show the support for Kim Jong-Il's son. The people who would speak out still lack the power to do so freely, and as such it makes it hard to believe there will be reconciliation and reunification with the South any time soon, if at all. I truly hope the new leader starts off on a good note, but I can see it going the opposite way if the generals are pulling the strings.
Laguna
The bouffant was fabulous, no question about it - but rallying around it? I mean, what, will they build some necropolis around it like they did with the entire Mao in Tiananmen? Sure, it'll keep growing for a few days after he's gone to the great Kim in the sky, but after that, what do they have to look forward to? The annual "Ceremony of Shampoo"?
wait - "heir"?! Sorry, thought that was something else. Disregard the above.Elbuda Mexicano
I guess if I was BRAINWASHED and educated to believe that Kim san and all of his family were gods or their manifestation of some god on Korea and for the rest of the world, I would also be there crying and getting ready to RALLY around the newest dearest leader too! RIP old dude with the funny hair style