Nobody I know seems to have posted this yet...

[conuly]

Kim Jong Il is, of course, dead. I haven't really been watching the news, reading the new, or online over the weekend, but I'm still a bit embarrassed I didn't know that yet!

Is this good or bad for North Korea, though?

Comments

[pne]

And is it good or bad for South Korea?

[conuly]

God, who the hell knows?

[lady-angelina.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched the news in god knows how long, so I've only heard about this yesterday through third-hand sources myself. Supposedly, it's a good thing because he was a dictator, but since I admittedly know and care little about politics on our own turf, let alone other countries, I can't really weigh in on whether or not this is truly good news for North Korea in the long run (I'd like to think it is, though, from what little I know).

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

What we worry about is that they'll just put someone else in who is exactly like him.

[conuly]

You mean his son?

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

As far as I know, the official news didn't get out before early this morning (GMT), so you aren't actually out of the loop.

I guess it's a chance - or it may make things even worse. I really don't know enough about Kim Jong-un to make any educated guess...

[sporks5000.livejournal.com]

I suppose that that depends entirely on who ends up in his place. I've heard a few different guesses as to who it will be.

And then, since it's Kim Jong Il, there's always the possibility that it's a stunt and he'll magically "come back from the dead"... not so sure, though. he looked pretty awful leading up to it.

[rantinan.livejournal.com]

It's an interesting question.
this might provide north korea with the opportunity to throw off the shackles of the purely military regime that it has labored so long under. Somehow, i doubt it however, and its going to be business as usual (ie stave the peasants, kill the dissidents, and blame the south for it all) no matter who is in charge

[ihcoyc.livejournal.com]

It's hard to imagine how anybody else could be worse over there.

[alessandriana.livejournal.com]

I'm crossing my fingers that KJU's time spent studying in-- Switzerland, I think?-- will have made him more progressive and more willing to open up NK to the rest of the world than his father was... but on the other hand, if that were the case, I doubt he'd have been put in charge. So who knows.

[eofs.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think the fact that his older brother was passed over in his favour is probably not a good sign.