Posted on 12/18/2011 7:13:39 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Kim Jong-il is dead
Some day, “KARA” and some other girls’ K-pop groups, will do a grand tour of Pyongyang, Wonsan and Gaesong. The DPRK boys will be besides themselves! They will need barbed wired between the stage and the audience! ;-)
No doubt those gals will own the Kim Il-sung Square.:-)
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-SC, who serves on the House Armed Service and Foreign Affairs committees, said in a phone interview from Washington Monday that the 36,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea are safe, and that those who were stationed near the demilitarized zone that separates the two nations have been moved back to a garrison in Seoul, the nations capital. He said that soon the American base will be 55 miles further south.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2011/12/20/55/0301000000AEN20111220003500315F.HTML
Some North Korean troops conducting an annual winter exercise returned to their bases hours after the announcement of the death of their leader Kim Jong-il, a South Korean official said Tuesday.
“We’ve learned that some units in the middle of their winter exercise went back to their bases overnight (Monday),” an official with the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) here said. “Also, all military units have tightened their security.”
North Korea typically holds winter military drills in December.
The official added that most units along the border are flying flags at half-mast to pay respect to the late leader. He said unusual activities from the North, including signs of any imminent provocation, had not been observed thus far.
I increasingly do not buy the "Kim Jong il died Saturday on a train serving the people" bit. I think it is classic DPRK myth/narrative. They may roll the train he supposedly died in out (the specific carriage), gold plate it or construct some glass around it, and make it a huge DPRK shrine of some sort, or otherwise mark the spot on the train tracks where the Phantom Death Train supposedly was, and put up a monument there, and force people to take trips up there and cry to the sky over the Chia Dong Long Gone. More brainwashing. More monuments. Don't you think they have to construct some kind of grotesque monument for the People to keep them mentally in line and conform to the Myth of Manner of Death??
It would appear the S. Koreans are trying to play things cool for the moment. There is reportedly a S. Korean gunnery exercise in the Yellow Sea scheduled in the next couple of days - I wonder if they will go forward with it?
Gov’t willing to scrap plan to light Christmas tower near border: official
SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Yonhap) —
The defense ministry is willing to accept local religious bodies’ request to withdraw the plan to light Christmas tree towers near the border, an official said Monday, as the South Korean government attempted to take a low-key approach following the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
The South had planned to light three Christmas tree-shaped towers near the border Friday, a move that prompted North Korea to accuse Seoul of ratcheting up anti-communist psychological warfare. Pyongyang also warned of an “unpredictable situation” after the tower’s lighting two days before Christmas Day and said Seoul should bear full responsibility for that potential scenario.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news...015100315.HTML
OMG it is cult country
I swear Pygonyang Patty is big ham in her acting ROFL
Here on the state side Yahoo news has run down on Chia Pet family including talk about the son who very feminine
http://news.yahoo.com/inside-north-korea-first-family-170900750.html
I suggest the best sollution is for Hillary to send Roger Clinton over as an ambassador . I remember Roger’s “rock band “ was the favorite of the north korean people . At least that’s what we told by the LSM . They will share thier plans with Rog , to be sure .
I agree for the most part. It’s a pretty sick society that has little hope for better, in fact likely worse if things continue.
They have nothing in which to build a thriving nation with...their infrastructure is worse than obsolete....and the mindset is that of an abused woman...only it’s an entire nation. Can you imagine them ever understanding real freedom?
Nobody seems to know how the “boy-child” will rule these people...but surely having been out in the world he recognizes his people are beyond backward. How would you even begin to trun their nation around? Would he even want to? And then the elites are not going to sarifice their perks for the nations good. It’s worse than a mess.
But I do believe China will be the deciding factor over what and how this transition goes. And who knows if Kim’s sister and brother-in-law aren’t going to hold onto their power for some time?..and that with China’s blessing.
China is likely to want the status quo IMO. The son will be further groomed to take over with temporary power remaining where it is for a time...the question is ..how long?
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2011/12/20/55/0401000000AEN20111220003500315F.HTML
2011/12/20 10:18 KST
N. Korean troops withdraw from annual training after leader’s death
SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Yonhap) — Some North Korean troops conducting an annual winter exercise returned to their bases hours after the announcement of the death of their leader Kim Jong-il, a South Korean official said Tuesday.
“We’ve learned that some units in the middle of their winter exercise went back to their bases overnight (Monday),” an official with the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) here said. “Also, all military units have tightened their security.”
North Korea typically holds winter military drills in December.
The official added that most units along the border are flying flags at half-mast to pay respect to the late leader. He said unusual activities from the North, including signs of any imminent provocation, had not been observed thus far.
The North announced Kim Jong-il’s passing two days after the fact.
The official added that most units along the border are flying flags at half-mast to pay respect to the late leader. He said unusual activities from the North, including signs of any imminent provocation, had not been observed thus far.
The North announced Kim Jong-il’s passing two days after the fact.
Suspicions arise over cause of death
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/12/116_101111.html
Gruesomely appropriate.
Photo of Kim and his son Sept.2011....took note of the sons stylish haircut...cropped high like many in the west do. While clearly Kim looks way thinner than the last I saw of him, though he was pretty bad then.
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/file-photo-north-korean-leader-kim-jong-il-photo-034226856.html
He's dead, Kim!
Are there enough of them with any degree of sanity to pull something off such as resistance? The people are so battered by this regime but not enough as they let millions die in the 90's without batting an eye. If death from starvation doesn't move them...what else would?
Just keep reporting AIT....am watching this thread carefully as wanting to know what’s going on with the people there....and how things develope.....should be interesting in the weeks ahead.
They mourned Kim’s father for three years...I wouldn’t expect that with his son as he wasn’t looked at in the same light.
see photo 574...taken Sept.2011.....Kim looks very thin.
These two are more than concerning and appear to hold the power currently...unstable as they are:
“Pyongyang power couple — Kim Kyong Hui, Kim Jong ils sister, and her husband, Jang Song-taek, both 65 — hold senior posts in North Koreas nuclear-armed military, and diplomats say..... they appear to have shown little hesitation in the past in purging, and even killing, internal rivals.
Last year, Mrs. Kim was given the rank of four-star general in the army despite persistent reports that... she is a raging alcoholic who has been hospitalized for alcohol poisoning more than once.
Korea scholars say have no reason to doubt South Korean news reports that the cold-blooded ways of Mrs. Kim and Mr. Jang...... helped explain why their 29-year-old daughter committed suicide..... in Paris in 2006, overdosing on sleeping pills and alcohol, rather than give in to her parents order to return home to their care.
That is something to be devoutly hoped for, but in my reading of North Korean culture (possibly wrong) I would say that they are not just touchy, they're fanatical about "face". Probably quite a bit more than their Southern counterparts (based on the number of Koreans I know).
That being the case, I am afraid they would be more likely to shoot the dissidents or crooks rather than let them go. It's a touchy situation. The military and Kim might want to go eyeball to eyeball, but at the street level, I expect the iron glove to be on and merciless.
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