It was announced on Monday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died on Saturday night. While some might think this is cause for celebration we should be more cautious.

North Korea has long been perparing for this event and grooming various sons to take over the role. It seems they have picked his third son, although all sons are reported to have had bizzare behaviour habits in the past like sneaking in to Tokyo Disneyland on a fake passport.

Third son Kim Jong-Un was educated in Switzerland but to restrict contact with others he would only dine with the North Korean Ambassador. Either way, he would have knowledge of english, french, or german and would have had other, if somewhat restricted contact, with classmates and teachers.

Any immediate hopes of unification should be put on hold. North Korea has shown erratic behaviour in the last two years when it felt it was being ignored. Last November they shelled a coastal island near the demilitarized border with Seoul killing civilians and soldiers. The year before they sunk a korean naval ship killing all the sailors on board.

South Korea has gone on a state of alert expecting some form of military attack as a show of strength of the new leader.

People in Daegu are not that bothered and its hardly a topic of conversation. I'm so glad I dont have CNN right now as I'm sure they are vastly overplaying this and Beijing Correspondent Stan Grant is having hysterical fits prophecizing the end of the world, wondering if the sun will rise tomorrow, and grossly exaggerating a state of panic and mass fear in south korea.

We are also getting news feed of crowds weeping at the death. This is actually a very sad reflection on north korean society. These people have been so brainwashed into thinking the ruling elite are some kind of living daeties.

I'm reading at the death of the last leader they were rewarded with food the more they wept. Those who were unable were sent to camps. Its also a popular claim that Kim Jong-il created The Simpsons cartoon so this gives north korean fans more reason to be sorrowful.

Hopefully it will be a smooth and quiet transition. Its sad to think when so much food goes to waste everyday in the south there are fellow countrymen a few hours north living in poverty and starvation.

This is a really good three part documentary I found about North Korea
Part 1 - he visits the DMZ and later bribes his way into N.Korea from China
Part 2 - he visits the DMZ again from the nothern side and is guided around Pyeongyang
Part 3 - we see the annual Arirang gymnastics display with 120,000 participants
http://www.vice.com/the-vice-guide-to-travel/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3

The Winnipeg Free Press has also interviewed Canadians living in Daegu about events
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/canadians-in-south-korea-keep-a-wary-eye-on-the-north-after-death-of-kim-jong-il-135936133.html

Another good documentary about five american servicemen who defected to the north in the 60s, became movie stars in the 70s-80s, and are now raising families in north korea
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHAMAwIWciA

You can also do a four day tour of North Korea (Pyeongyang and DMZ) from Dandong China but I would have to get a double entry China Visa again
http://www.explorenorthkorea.com/the-signature-tour---4-days-from-dandong.html



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