Posted on 12/18/2011 7:13:39 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Biggest smuggled items on the black market in Pyongyang, where lights go off at sunset, and there are no places to go like restaurants? Bibles and porno tapes or DVDs.
Because of this, N. Korean regime can still entertain a hope of turnaround from the mess they are in. Those NK elements are quite active these days. It has been gathering momentum, successfully agitating general public especially young people. Suddenly Kim Jong-il's death make it abruptly stop. Their operation is now in holding pattern. N. Korean organs giving directives to these operative in S. Korea are busy figuring out what's going on. For now, there is no new propaganda or political offensive orchestrated by them.
China Slow to Respond to Kim Jong-il’s Death
China's state-run media were quick to report the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il but Beijing took a long time giving an official response. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu issued a statement at around 4 p.m. Monday, almost four hours after the death was announced and only in the form of answers to questions from reporters during a regular press briefing.
“We express our deep condolences and offer our sincere consolations to the people of North Korea,” Ma said and urged North Korea to strengthen its traditional partnership with China to contribute to stability on the Korean Peninsula.
Observers say it is rare for China's Foreign Ministry, rather than the external liaison office of the Communist Party, to issue a comment on a matter of importance involving North Korea, where inter-party relations are the foundation of bilateral ties. There was also no mention of Kim Jong-un, the son and heir apparent.
North Korean Embassy staff in Beijing, China on Monday lower the national flag to mourn the death of leader Kim Jong-il. /AP-Yonhap North Korean Embassy staff in Beijing, China on Monday lower the national flag to mourn the death of leader Kim Jong-il. /AP-Yonhap
The official statement of condolence from China's Communist Party was only released on state-run CCTV at 8:15 p.m., eight hours after the announcement of Kim's death. The Communist Party Politburo, People's Assembly, State Council and Central Military Commission said, “We believe the North Korean people will carry forward of the will of Comrade Kim Jong-il and closely unite around the Workers Party, and under the leadership of Comrade Kim Jong-un, turn grief into strength and march forward for building a strong socialist country and realizing a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
The reference to “the leadership of Comrade Kim Jong-un” was interpreted as support for the heir.
But experts in China interpret the eight-hour delay as hinting at a significant degree of uncertainty over what position to take.
Some believe Pyongyang did not notify China of Kim's death before the official announcement was made on Monday. Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Kim Jong-il on each of his three visits to China last year and this year and urged him each time to improve communication about important matters in bilateral relations. Hu was probably thinking of North Korea's first nuclear test in 2006, when Beijing was notified just half an hour before the event. The delay in Beijing’s official statement suggests Pyongyang probably failed to inform China in advance again.
When former North Korean leader Kim Il-sung died in 1994, Kim Jong-il was officially anointed as his successor. But Kim Jong-un has not, which might be what caused Chinese officials to hesitate in endorsing him, other experts say. Kim Jong-un is a general in the North's military but has no rank in the National Defense Commission, which is the country's highest organ. China may have been concerned that it could be seen as acknowledging the North's dynastic power succession, which has caused an international outcry.
However, Beijing appears to have accepted the fact that Jong-un is the official heir after seeing his name on top of the North's funeral committee list.
englishnews@chosun.com / Dec. 20, 2011 12:22 KST
Why Did N.Korea Announce Kim Autopsy?
North Korea's official KCNA news agency on Monday said leader Kim Jong-il died of a sudden heart attack and the cause of death was confirmed in an autopsy, although it remains unclear whether the procedure was actually performed.
When former leader Kim Il-sung died in July 1994 the North also performed an autopsy, and the Soviet Union also did the same amid the power struggles after the deaths of Lenin and Stalin.
According to the announcement, Kim “suffered an acute myocardial infarction, complicated by serious cardiogenic shock” and died at 8:30 a.m. despite immediate emergency treatment. His autopsy was performed the following day, it added.
Kim's health had been closely monitored by a medical team that travelled with him on his armored train, and this could have led to rumors of an assassination possibly from poisoning or other methods unless an autopsy revealed that he died of natural causes. Kim Jong-il revealed the results of an autopsy when his father died in 1994, but there were still rumors that he left him to die by delaying emergency treatment.
Experts say Kim Jong-il’s son and heir Jong-un, who still lacks a solid power base, needed legitimate facts detailing the cause of his father's death to prevent an internal rebellion. “Through the autopsy, Kim Jong-un and the military brass around him sought to wrap up the situation quickly and prevent any suspicion about the legitimacy of his succession,” one expert said.
What Kim Jong-il suffered does not show any evidence immediately. They have to give it some time before confirming evidence emerges: some yellowish liquid appearing around dead person's heart, according to what I read from news account.
who can possibly trust any “autopsy” allegedly performed under the conditions of such a regime?
whether there was any semblance of an autopsy, whether or not the results were faked, etc. may never be known to the wider world
Well those two might have to do more than retain their power if Hu does as his father did before him. Kim had most who threatened his power in any way taken out. These two might be on the list for HU in time.
Maybe this administration is keeping the press down on Kim’s death and all it entails. After all the USA is N. Korea’s number one enemy. Why provoke an already touchy situation with a nuclear armed nation, who might just have a new leader who needs to throw his weight around to prove he’s worthy to his own people.
But yes, there’s generally better news sources than the US. The US press is “afraid” to print the facts because someone would sue for their word choices.
I wondered about that...Kim wasn't real keen about a sucessor to begin with, and according to his private chef, (who flew the cookoo's nest some time ago), Kim wouldn't allow discussion of this for quite awhile there,, so nobody dared bring it up.
This link has some interesting info....
The closest military aides to Kim Jong Un are said to be:
‘Ri Yong Ho’..... chief of the general staff of the military forces and a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission.
‘Kim Yong Chol’.... who taught Kim Jong Un at university and is also a member of the Central Military Commission. Also Kim Yong Chol is director of the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces’ Reconnaissance General Bureau.
Kim Jong Un also ‘has a power base in the State Security Department’......(Interesting).... Early this year, he took control of the department by ‘purging’ heavyweight Ryu Kyong.......Since then, Kim Jong Un has instructed the department to ‘strengthen control on North Korean defectors’.
Kim Kyong Hui, director of the Light Industry Department of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party, manages companies and mines independently, and is said to possess one of the largest amounts of foreign currencies in North Korea.
Under those mentors, Kim Jong Un is expected to continue his father’s policy of putting top priority on the country’s military forces.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/korean_peninsula/AJ201112190044
Interesting videos on the plight..and missions to N.Korea.
I’ve listened to several others as well. I don’t think things will change for Christians there...if anything it would get worse as HU has apparently told the military to get a firmer control on defectors.
Very similar to the demise of Stalin:
Stalin then went to bed, but only after saying the guards could go off duty and that they werent to wake him.
Stalin would usually alert his guards before 10:00 am and ask for tea, but no communication came. The guards grew worried, but were forbidden from waking Stalin and could only wait: there was no one in the Dacha who could counter Stalins orders. A light came on in the room around 18:30, but still no call. Eventually, plucking up the courage to go in and using the arrived post as an excuse, a guard entered the room at 22:00 and found Stalin lying on the floor in a pool of urine. He was helpless and unable to speak, and his broken watch showed he had fallen at 18:30.
A Delay in Treatment:
The guards felt they didnt have the right authority to call for a doctor indeed many of Stalins doctors were the target of a new purge so instead they called the Minister of State Security. He also felt he didnt have the right powers and called Beria. Exactly what happened next is still not fully understood, but Beria and other leading Russians delayed acting, possibly because they wanted Stalin to die and not include them in the forthcoming purge, possibly because they were scared of seeming to infringe on Stalins powers should he recover. They only called for doctors sometime between 7:00 and 10:00 the next day after first travelling to the Dacha themselves.
The doctors found Stalin partially paralysed, breathing with difficulty and vomiting blood. They feared the worst but were unsure. The best doctors in Russia, those which had been treating Stalin, had recently been arrested as part of the forthcoming purge and were in prison. Representatives of the doctors who were free and had seen Stalin went to the prisons to ask for the old doctors opinions, who confirmed the initial, negative, diagnoses. Stalin struggled on for several days, eventually dying at 21:50 on March 5th. His daughter said about the event: The death agony was terrible. He literally choked to death as we watched. (Conquest, Stalin: Breaker of Nations, p. 312)
http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/communistrussia/a/histmyths3.htm
I read about some ot those "elements"....and there were some actual videos of the citizens getting more bolder with the various foot solders who harass them. I honestly believe if there's ever an uprising it will be because the woman put pressure on the men there......they're more than tired of watching their families die or be split up. But time will tell as it always does.
Kim Jong Il Is Dead: Celebrities Tweet Reactions
Kirstie Alley, Jared Leto, a President Obama impersonator and more share their feelings on the death of the North Korean dictator
Terri Schwartz ON Dec 19, 2011 at 12:18PM
The death of North Korean dicatator Kim Jong Il on Saturday morning at the age of 69 has certainly rocked the world, but not many American citizens are too choked up about it. Celebrities took to their Twitter accounts to react to the leader's passing — which the state's news agency says was caused by “advanced acute myocardial infarction, complicated with a serious heart shock” — and some stars were flabbergasted to discover that North Korean citizens were actually upset about Kim Jong Il’s death.
Kirstie Alley didn't have many kind words to say about those who were upset about Jong Il’s demise. In fact, based on her tweet, the news got her pretty riled up.
“Have people become so blind to barbarism that they weep for mass murderers...please!...get a F#%king clue..cry for the Victims of Kimbo,” she wrote.
Actress Mia Farrow had a similar, albeit more humorous, response. The Rosemary's Baby star posted a video of a news program about Jong Il and tweeted, “N Korea: Ppl sobbing,wailing & thrashing about - as an actor I can say, they would never get hired.”.............
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