The North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died last saturday at 8:30 am at age 69 due to a heart attack during a train ride according to state media KCNA in Pyongyang. He was leading the extremely closed off North Korean people for 17 years. The country has proclaimed a mourning period until December 29th and the funeral of Kim Jong Il is apparently planned for December 28th.
As soon as the news broke, South Korean politicians convened for a meeting, concerned about what will happen next in the neighboring country. The South Korean military has been set on the highest alert level, the emergency alert, said Lee’s office. Technically, the North and South of Korea are still at war – there never has been any peace treaty in place since the end of the Korean war and aggressive acts were quite common throughout the past years up to 2010. The South Korean military in now closely monitoring troop movements and the sea around the peninsula. Japan also reacted quite nervously to the news of Kim’s death. South Korean military is certainly on the watch and ready to react to whatever may come their way.
The USA said that they are working very closely with their allies South Korea and Japan and expressed their concern that a nervous North Korea may be quite dangerous. The next in line to reign North Korea is the son of Kim Jong Il. His name is Kim Jong Un – and almost nothing is known about him, not even his age. Apparently, he was studying in Switzerland some years ago.
It is not clear to this point, how the regime will react to the death of their leader -and no one has reliable information for now of who will take the power these days. There sure are some high military officials who may try to take power or who may be able to order military actions against the South. In the end it is only very little known about what Kim’s son – Kim Jong Un – will may do or if he even is able to take on the power over the nation at all. Hopes that the North Korean country will open up now depends now not only on Kim Jong Un, but also the rest of the military officials who are in power.
Also the stock markets across Asia and to a certain extend also around the world have reacted to the news of the death of Kim Jong Il. It has to be awaited what will happen over the course of the next weeks – hopefully we do not see an escalation of the situation out of despair. I am also hoping that there is a chance now to finally restore peace to the North and South and eventually a possibility to work towards a reunion of the Korean nation.