North Korean Leader Is Very Ill, American Official Says. Here is another article on this from the Washingtonpost. Maybe there will really be a November surprise.
The End in Sight?
Previous post: Chun Kwang-Young in New York . . .
Next post: Foreigners Dislike Booze-Breath Korean Doctors: Chosun Ilbo
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh fuck. Here come the Chinese PLA. I wonder how much of North Korean territory the Chinese are gonna lop off once occupation ends.
Time to stocked up on SOJU! or time to…?
Here is another post from the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-kim10-2008sep10,0,7264304.story
In the LA Times piece, Lankov appears to be downplaying rumors of a serious illness:
“He is going to die sooner or later and eventually one of these reports about his health will be true, but this one is probably much ado about nothing,” said Andrei Lankov, a respected Pyongyang watcher and a professor at South Korea’s Kookmin University. He said the extreme secrecy about the North Korean regime made it unlikely that either the United States or South Korea had received reliable intelligence about Kim’s health.
“He is going to die sooner or later and eventually one of these reports about his health will be true”
Yeah that part was hilarious…Lankov is really going out on a limb…hahaha…classic, he is going to die sooner or later….really!!??!
Preposterous.
“He is going to die sooner or later and eventually one of these reports about his health will be true, but this one is probably much ado about nothing,” said Andrei Lankov, a respected Pyongyang watcher”
Tautology. I hope someday, when Jong-il croaks, we will no longer be needing “respected Pyongyang watchers” anymore.
#2 None
None of the DPRK’s neighbors want to face the aftermath scenario. The Chinese kept Deng alive well into his 90s. He got the best Chinese medicines and I have no doubt they are sending them to Kim now. The question is whether the South is doing the same thing.
I don’t think the death or incapacitation of KJI would necessarily portend the end of the Nork government any more than the death of KIS did. The people who really run North Korea will just pick a new figurehead, purge a few undesirables, and move on to decades more of oppression and isolation.
trucal obesity finally caught up with him.
I’m leaning towards GI malignancy, MI, or stroke, if it’s enough to keep him out of his mass games.
Doesn’t do a good advertisement for daily glasses of red wine, though.
Looks like the South Korean government is pretty sure Kim is sick:
http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LS2D&mid=sec&sid1=100&sid2=268&oid=001&aid=0002261469
At this stage, you’d hate to discuss who comes next, but man, Kim Jong-nam and North Korea deserve one another.
My wife (who appears to know everything) tells me KJI has sons who are ready to take command and who look exactly like him…Perhaps Hwang Woo-suk defected to NK? Who else would support his “research”?
“He is going to die sooner or later and eventually one of these reports about his health will be true, but this one is probably much ado about nothing,” said Andrei Lankov, a respected Pyongyang watcher”
Tautology. I hope someday, when Jong-il croaks, we will no longer be needing “respected Pyongyang watchers” anymore.
Rumours of my death have been greatly exagerated.
I believe lankov was being ironical. Read it again, give him a little more credit as you do, and think a little bit more.
I personally hope this rumour proves to be false and Kim Jong-il is in good health, although the no-show at the 60th anniversary party is not a good sign.
But really, subscription to this kim-jong-il-as-a-dictator-myth either belies a lack of intelligence about North Korea, its history, and the complexities of its political structure (ie; the extended Kim family, the guerilla elite, indigenous social customs), or reflect an interest in perpetuating the old Orientalist hydro-political structure as a justification for demonizing the place. While there are a lot of amateur observers, Lankov is not one of them, even if he does appear to follow the latter, simplistic theory of the top-down Kim Jong-il dictatorship.
What?
#14,
Could you explain your statement that KJI-as-a-dictator is a myth?
I think he’s too busy thumbing through his thesaurus!
Back here on Planet Earth, we know Kim Jong Il is a disgustingly
greedy, evil dictator who would dine on the blood of children
if it so pleased him. He’s a despicable example of a human!
While I know total collapse of the Nork regime would be disasterous,
fat boy Kim and his ilk deserve either death or some serious imprisonment!
jean, you sound exactly like a guy who has never read anything by Dr. Lankov.
It’s too bad the death of this genocidal tyrant, whenever it happens, probably won’t free the North Korean people, since China will most likely move in to support the military regime or just set up their own puppet gov’t.
“jean, you sound exactly like a guy who has never read anything by Dr. Lankov.”
But au contraire, Michael. Many work in the same field as Lankov but don’t comment on the the Internet or the Korea Times, not that that is saying anything against his scholarly work. But then again, this scholarly work by many other scholars is not accessable to the majority of Internet commentators. To hold Dr. Lnakov’s work in high esteem with little knowledge of the greater breadth of research that has been conducted in the field of North Korean studies would be limiting.
I’m sorry Michael, but to believe that some guy inherited full omnipotence over an entire country is anomoulous with current research, things are not so simple and black and white. I think you know this. Try to learn more and think deaper, I’m sure you can.
Sure, kim jongil carries weight in pyongyang, but he is not the be all and end all, in fact less so than his father was.
Huh? Sigh…Dr. Lankov does not “appear to follow the latter, simplistic theory of the top-down Kim Jong-il dictatorship” and if you had actually read his work you’d know that.
I’m not going to go any “deaper” with you on this. Bye.
Jean, fat boy Kim may not be as all-powerful as his father was, but the North Korean people are still slaving away, starving & dying, due to his rule!
Do you honestly believe all of North Korea outside of Pyongyang is free from the grip of his greedy, bloody, fat, little hands?
To deny he is a ruthless dictator is just asinine!
“I’m sorry Michael, but to believe that some guy inherited full omnipotence over an entire country is anomoulous with current research, things are not so simple and black and white. I think you know this. Try to learn more and think deaper, I’m sure you can.”
Condescension reminiscent of a Mizar5, were Mizar’s apparent condescension not in fact laser logic while this is simply gratuitous, unfocused insult.
How about enlightening us on the current research you make veiled references to? An argument should provide some basis, don’t you think? Or is unsupported assertion passing for arguments in current research these days?
So, are you saying that KJI is a pawn of other powers? Are you denying that he sets the tone and provides the cohesion of the current power structure? That he is not the nexus of power, and in fact far enough from it as to be irrelevent?
Come on. I know you can do better. Focus.
Guys, breaking news here. CNN.com and the New York Times have headlines saying that Kim’s death has been confirmed by the Chinese government.
Kim is in a “recoverable and manageable condition,” and that the North is not in a “power vacuum,” Yonhap said.
I suppose with all those doubles, Kim has got to be indestructible.
You must log in to post a comment.
{ 1 trackback }