North Korea announced the death of supreme leader Kim Jong Il and urged its people to rally behind his young son and heir-apparent Monday, while the world watched warily for signs of instability in a nation pursuing nuclear weapons.
North Korea's longtime leader Kim Jong Il, the embodiment of the reclusive state where his cult of personality is deeply entrenched, has died, state TV reported.
He was believed to be 69.
Regarded as one of the world's most-repressive leaders, Kim Jong Il always cut a slightly bizarre figure. His diminutive stature and characteristically bouffant hair have been parodied by some in the West.
"He's a mysterious person -- I think by design," said Han S. Park, director of the Center for the Study of Global Issues at the University of Georgia and a frequent visitor to North Korea. "Mystery is a source of leverage and power. It's maintaining uncertainty."
South Korea, anxious about the untested, 20-something Kim Jong Un after his father's 17-year rule, put its military on high alert against the North's 1.2 million-strong armed forces. President Barack Obama agreed by phone with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to closely monitor developments.
With Kim Jong Il dead question and speculation rises who will follow him. Most promising candidate is Kim Jong Un, in the West perhaps known as Brilliant Comrade, but then called by the honorific title of the Young Dear General and is now the Great Successor. His elder halfbrother Kim Jong Nam had fallen out of favour.
The makers of Hennessy Paradis cognac will be in mourning today since the deceased Kim Jong Il was the world's largest purchaser of this premium product.
He apparently died of heart failure on a train, while inspecting military installations. An emergency medivac helicopter crashed en route to assist him. He traveled everywhere by armoured train - he had a fear of flying - scoffing prodigious quantities of lobster and the like delivered at all points on the route. Some banquets went on for four days at a stretch as the train trundled to Beijing or Moscow.
