|
'Great Successor' takes power in N Korea
[Financial Times]  The death of Kim Jong-il threw the Korean peninsula into fresh uncertainty on Monday as the North Korean regime named the dictator's youngest son as the "Great Successor", rattling financial markets in the south.They mean Pudge, aka Sonny Jong Il... Well, that sounds better than "The Great Big Fat Kid"... Some of us refer to him as "The young'un". In a solemn broadcast, a North Korean television newscaster announced that Kim Jong-eun would assume power after his 70-year-old father pegged out on Saturday while travelling outside Pyongyang by train. "He worked day and night for socialist construction and the happiness of people, for the union of country and modernisation. He left us so suddenly," said the teary-eyed newscaster. Kim Jong-il's death rids the world of one of its most ruthless leaders, a man who focused on turning the totalitarian state into a nuclear-armed power while starving millions of his people to death. But the ascension of his inexperienced son, reported to be no more than 28 years of age, could threaten the stability of east Asia as the scion of the Kim dynasty may struggle to rule a country buckling under the weight of sanctions, hunger and power cuts. Posted by: Fred 2011-12-20 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=335570 |