North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has died, aged 69, of a heart attack, state media announced on Monday, plunging the nuclear-armed and deeply isolated nation into a second dynastic succession.
Pyongyang urged people to rally behind Kim’s youngest son Jong-Un, describing him as “great successor” to the leader who presided over a famine that saw hundreds of thousands die, but still built an atomic arms arsenal.
State television, which delivered the shocking news in a tearful announcement from a female news reader, aired footage of hysterical North Koreans, young and old alike, pounding the ground in a display of abject grief. South Korea put its military on emergency alert but urged its people to stay calm, and swiftly closed ranks with its close ally the United States.
Analysts said there would likely be little turbulence in the North – at least for now.
Neighbouring China and Russia, both influential players in Pyongyang, sent their condolences and observers said Beijing would beef up its all-important patronage to prevent an implosion in the communist North.
There was wariness about where North Korea goes now under Kim Jong-Il’s son, but Britain, France and Germany voiced tentative hope for a new dawn at the end of a tumultuous year that has seen regimes topple across the Middle East.
The “Dear Leader”, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), “passed away from a great mental and physical strain” at 8:30am on Saturday (2330 GMT Friday) while travelling by train on one of his field trips.
It urged people to support the Swiss-educated Kim Jong-Un, who is in his late 20s and was last year made a four-star general and given top ruling party posts despite having had no public profile.
Funeral: Kim’s funeral will be held on December 28 in Pyongyang but no foreign delegations will be invited, KCNA said.
