Kim Jong-il Calls for Peace with South Korea in 'Will'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: North Korea’s late leader Kim Jong-il has urged his nation from beyond the grave to aim for a peaceful reconciliation with the south in a document believed to be his will.

However, the leader, who died in December last year, also pressed North Korea to continue building its military and making weapons of mass destruction in order to maintain its power.

Extracts from Mr Kim’s final testament have reportedly been obtained by two think tanks in South Korea, highlighting his requested future legacy for the state as his son Kim Jong-un takes over at the helm.

The late Mr Kim requests North Korea to renounce war with its longstanding opponent South Korea, according to extracts obtained and made public by the Sejong Institute, a South Korean think-tank.

However, the alleged will also urges North Korea to wait in its pursuit of peace until a new leader comes to power in Seoul, with a reunification deemed impossible under the current regime of President Lee Myung-bak.

The document also emphasized Mr Lee’s belief that North Korea should try to avoid war due to the potential devastation it would cause, according to Kyodo News. » | Danielle Demetriou, Tokyo | Thursday, April 19, 2012

Corée du Nord: nouvel élan d'hommages à Kim Jong-il

LA PRESSE: Les Nord-Coréens ont commencé à rendre hommage à leur défunt dirigeant Kim Jong-il, décédé en décembre à 69 ans, en se rendant en pèlerinage sur son lieu de naissance officiel, ont annoncé dimanche les médias sud et nord-coréens.

Des écoliers venus de tout le pays ont afflué dimanche au Mont Paektu, le plus haut sommet du pays (2744 mètres), à la frontière chinoise. Kim Jong-il serait né le 16 février 1942 sur cette montagne sacrée, selon l'agence officielle nord-coréenne KCNA. » | Agence France-Presse, Séoul | dimanche 05 février 2012

The Real North Korea by Kim's Forsaken Son

THE INDEPENDENT: When Kim Jong-il's presumed heir was shunned, his life changed forever. David McNeill sifts exclusive extracts from a new book that explains why he believes his half-brother's fledgling reign is doomed

Every family has its black sheep but few families are as shrouded in myth as the reclusive Kim regime of North Korea. Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of the recently deceased dictator Kim Jong-il, famously left the family fold and apparently spends much of his time in the Chinese gambling resort of Macau. Until this month, he was known mainly for a bizarre clandestine attempt to visit Tokyo Disneyland in 2001. He used a fake passport and Chinese alias that translates as "fat bear" – a stunt that reportedly embarrassed his father and ended any chance he had of becoming leader.

Now Kim Jong-nam has offered a rare glimpse behind the family curtain in an extraordinary book – My Father, Kim Jong-Il and Me, published by Bungei Shunju – in which he reveals his love for his "tender-hearted" father, his fears for North Korea's future, the Chinese spies who watch and protect him and his father's doubts about handing power to his youngest son and Kim Jong-nam's half-brother, Kim Jong-un.

"My father was more opposed to the third-generation hereditary succession than anybody and there must have been internal factors that forced him to change his view," he said. "But the North Korean people are so used to obeying orders solely based on their belief in bloodline of [North Korea's founder] Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il that they may have trouble accepting any successor outside of that bloodline." Kim Jong-Nam warns that the succession risks making his country a "laughing stock". » | David McNeill | Monday, January 23, 2012

Punished for Not Crying: Thousands of North Koreans Face Labour Camps for Not Being Upset Enough about Death of Kim Jong-il

MAIL ONLINE: North Korea's hardline regime is punishing those who did not cry at the death of dictator Kim Jong-il, according to reports.

Sentences of at least six months in labour camps are also apparently being given to those who didn't go to the organised mourning events, while anyone who criticised the new leader Kim Jong-un is also being punished.

Those who tried to leave the country, or even made a mobile phone call out, were also being disciplined, it has been claimed.

Daily NK says a source has claimed that 'criticism sessions' - which began after the official period of mourning - have now finished and tough sentences are being given out.

The informant from North Hamkyung Province told the website: 'The authorities are handing down at least six months in a labour-training camp to anybody who didn’t participate in the organised gatherings during the mourning period, or who did participate but didn’t cry and didn't seem genuine.'

The source claimed the criticism sessions created a 'vicious atmosphere of fear', which meant the new leader, Kim Jong-un, was being accused of preying on the people now that he has taken power.

It is unclear how many people face incarceration but the figure could be many thousands. Read on and comment » | Daily Mail Reporter | Friday, January 13, 2012

Kim Jong-il's Death: News Was Broken by Mourning North Korean Magpies
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The passing of North Korean strongman Kim Jong-il has been marked by plunging temperatures, mourning bears and now, according to North Korean state media, by flocks of magpies.

Kim, who died in December aged 69 years after 17 years running the world's most reclusive state, was reputed to be able to control the weather, as well as to have scored a miraculous 38 under par round of golf.

"At around 17:30 on December 19, 2011, hundreds of magpies appeared from nowhere and hovered over a statue of President Kim Il Sung on Changdok School campus in Mangyongdae District, clattering as if they were telling him the sad news," state news agency KCNA reported on Monday. » | Monday, January 09, 2012

Kim Jong-il Memorial Service: Kim Jong-un Hailed as New Supreme Leader

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: North Korea staged a vast memorial service for Kim Jong-il overnight, and formally declared his young son Kim Jong-un as the new supreme leader.

The nationwide memorial ceremony for North Korea’s departed leader wrapped up two days of brilliantly choreographed mourning events while setting a very public seal on the successorship of the third-generation Kim family member to hold power in Pyongyang.

Thursday’s memorial was less emotional than Wednesday’s funeral, but like the previous event, demonstrated that the regime has not lost any of its power to mobilise masses. Hundreds of thousands of people were packed into Kim Il-sung Square in the heart of the capital.

It also indicated that the Korean People’s Army, which played a prominent role in the funeral ceremony, remains central to this hardline, ultra-nationalist state dominated by a “military first” policy. The crowd appeared to be predominantly, though not entirely, composed of soldiers.

Above all, it was the clearest sign yet that the third-generation succession of the Kim dynasty is a sealed deal.

The young leader Kim Jong-un’s only official title is vice-chairman of the Korean Workers Party Central Military Commission, but he has, following his father Kim Jong-il’s passing on Dec 17, been lauded by state media as “successor” and “leader”. » | Andrew Salmon in Seoul | Thursday, December 29, 2011


THE GUARDIAN: Kim Jong-un declared 'supreme leader' in North Korea: Kim Jong-un publicly endorsed as new leader as crowds gather at memorial service for his father Kim Jong-il » | Justin McCurry in Osaka | Wednesday, December 28, 2011

North Korea Bids Farewell to Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il Funeral: Thousands Mourn North Korean Leader
THE GUARDIAN: State TV shows procession moving through Pyongyang against backdrop of snowfall and clearly audible outpouring of grief


Tens of thousands of people have endured freezing temperatures in Pyongyang to bid farewell to the former North Korean leader Kim Jong-ilin a meticulously-choreographed funeral designed to cement his legacy and transfer power to his youngest son, Kim Jong-un.

In death, as in life, Kim had kept the outside world guessing – this time about the timing of his funeral. The Russian and Chinese media said the images coming from Pyongyang on Wednesday were live, but the abundance of natural light at the end, just as it was getting dark in Seoul, suggested they were recorded.

Reports said the capital's citizens had been mobilised to clear snow from the funeral cortege's 40km route from the Kumsusan memorial palace, where Kim's body had been lying in state.

North Korean state TV showed the procession moving slowly through the streets against a backdrop of snowfall and a clearly audible outpouring of grief from mourners, most of whom were wearing dark green military uniforms.

The three-hour procession may have helped answer key questions about the communist regime's immediate future amid fears that the rapid rise of the inexperienced Kim Jong-un could spark a power struggle and potentially threaten regional security.

Kim Jong-un, wearing a long black coat but no hat, walked in front of the hearse carrying his father's casket which was wrapped in a red flag – a sign that the succession is proceeding as the older Kim had envisaged when he unveiled the youngest of his three sons as his heir at a military parade in October 2010. » | Justin McCurry in Osaka | Wednesday, December 28, 2011

WELT ONLINE: Trauerfeier für Kim Jong-il – Pompöser Salut mit Führerkult und deutschen Autos: Drei Stunden dauerte die spektakuläre Totenprozession für Kim Jong-il. Sein Leichenwagen fuhr durch die ganze Hauptstadt. Eine deutsche Automarke fiel dabei besonders auf. ¶ Nordkoreas Familiendynastie der Kims zementiert ihre Herrschaft in dritter Generation mit dem Ausbau eines Führerkults, der auch für ihre Toten ewig halten soll. So wie Staatengründer Kim Il-song wird auch der am 17. Dezember am Herzinfarkt gestorbene Diktatur Kim Jong-il nach dem Ende der Trauerzeit einbalsamiert werden. Er soll im Kristallsarg im Kumsusan Mausoleum „für immer aufgebahrt ruhen.“ ¶ Das meldete am Mittwoch der chinesische Fernsehsender Phönix unter Berufung auf Pjöngjangs Staatsfernsehen. Der von einer Parteifahne bedeckte präparierte Leichnam des Präsidentenvater Kim Il-song liegt bereits seit 1994 im Mausoleum, dem Jahr, als er starb. » | Johnny Erling | Mittwoch 28. Dezember 2011

LE MONDE: Corée du Nord : grandioses obsèques pour Kim Jong-il – La Corée du Nord a organisé, mercredi 28 décembre, de grandioses obsèques pour son dirigeant Kim Jong-il. L'agence de presse russe Itar-Tass a affirmé que le service funèbre avait débuté à 10 heures, heure locale (2 heures, heure de Paris) à Pyongyang, dans le mausolée Kumsusan, où le corps du "Cher Dirigeant" a été placé dans un cercueil de verre. La cérémonie, qui a rassemblé des dizaines de milliers de Nord-Coréens, a pris fin à 9 heures (heure de Paris), selon la télévision officielle. "La cérémonie est terminée", a déclaré un responsable officiel devant le mausolée Kumsusan de Pyongyang où le convoi funèbre est revenu à l'issue d'un tour dans la ville enneigée devant des dizaines de milliers de personnes. A son retour sur la place du mausolée, devant des dizaines de milliers de soldats et de civils rassemblés, la garde d'honneur a défilé et l'hymne national a été interprété par un orchestre militaire. » | LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | mercredi 28 décembre 2011

North Korea Holds Funeral for 'Dear Leader' Kim Jong-il
North Korea began two days of official mourning for Kim Jong-il on Wednesday, with state television showing live coverage of the late leader's hearse leaving the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang.

Read article and comment here | Julian Ryall, Tokyo | Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Exclusive: North Korea's Military to Share Power with Kim's Heir
REUTERS.COM: North Korea will shift to collective rule from a strongman dictatorship after last week's death of Kim Jong-il, although his untested young son will be at the head of the ruling coterie, a source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing said.


The source added that the military, which is trying to develop a nuclear arsenal, has pledged allegiance to the untested Kim Jong-un, who takes over the family dynasty that has ruled North Korea since it was founded after World War Two.

The source declined to be identified but has correctly predicted events in the past, telling Reuters about the North's first nuclear test in 2006 before it took place.

The comments are the first signal that North Korea is following a course that many analysts have anticipated -- it will be governed by a group of people for the first time since it was founded in 1948. » | Benjamin Kang Lim | BEIJING | Wednesday, December 21, 2011

REUTERS FRANCE: La Corée du Nord se dirige vers un pouvoir collegial : PEKIN - Le nouveau dirigeant de la Corée du Nord, Kim Jong-un, partagera le pouvoir avec un de ses oncles et l'armée après la mort de son père survenue samedi, a-t-on appris mercredi auprès d'une source proche de Pyongyang et de Pékin. » | Benjamin Kang-Lim, Marine Pennetier pour le service français | mercredi 21 décembre 2011

REUTERS DEUTSCHLAND: Nordkorea steuert auf Machtteilung zu: Peking - Nach dem Tod von Nordkoreas Alleinherrscher Kim Jong Il steuert das kommunistisch regierte Land erstmals in seiner Geschichte auf eine Machtteilung zu. ¶ Kims politisch unerfahrener Sohn Kim Jong Un werde nicht als Autokrat, sondern gemeinsam mit seinem Onkel Jang Song Thaek und dem Militär herrschen, sagte am Mittwoch eine Person mit engen Verbindungen zu den Regierungen Nordkoreas und Chinas der Nachrichtenagentur Reuters. Formell allerdings werde der von seinem Vater als Nachfolger aufgebaute junge Kim an der Spitze der Führungsriege stehen. Die Generäle hätten ihm die Treue geschworen. Ein Putsch sei damit sehr unwahrscheinlich. Die Lage in dem Land, dass nach seiner Gründung 1948 zuerst von Kim Jong Uns Großvater und dann von seinem Vater streng autokratisch geführt wurde, scheine stabil zu sein. Auch sei vorerst nicht mit einem weiteren Atomtest zu rechnen. » | Reuters | Mittwoch 21. Dezember 2011

Kim Jong-il: 'He Was a Lovely Man'

THE GUARDIAN: Cuba declares three days of mourning for North Korean leader, while Nicaragua, Venezuela and President Mugabe loyalists express sorrow too

The wailing and gnashing of teeth inside North Korea was not entirely unexpected. That the death of Kim Jong-il has plunged other parts of the world into grief may come as more of a surprise.

Communist ally Cuba has declared three days of mourning, with flags to be flown at half mast, while Nicaragua and Venezuela also expressed sorrow. The Korean Central News Agency's website carries messages of condolence from the emir of Qatar, the former president of Moldova and the "Great King and Great Queen of Cambodia".

Not to be outdone in the contrarian stakes, Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe's loyalists have paid tribute to North Korea's "dear leader", who died from a heart attack aged 69.

"He was a lovely man whom we associated with," Didymus Mutasa, the secretary of administration for Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, told Zimbabwe's Voice of the People radio. "He was our great friend, and we are not ashamed of being associated with him." » | David Smith in Johannesburg | Wednesday, December 21, 2011

North Korean State Television Broadcasts Pictures of Kim Jong-il Lying in State
A stream of mourners is shown filing past the glass coffin of North Korea's 'Dear Leader' as the country's grieving reaches new levels of hysteria

Read short article here | Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Kim Jong-il Dead: Power Struggle Begins between Three Factions

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A dynastic power struggle has begun in North Korea where experts have identified three rival factions jockeying for position behind Kim Jong-un, the country's new leader.

The regime placed the body of Kim Jong-il, the late dictator who died on Saturday, on display in a glass coffin in the capital, Pyongyang, on Tuesday. His son and successor was among the first to pay his respects and observe a moment of silence.

The official media have begun fashioning a personality cult around Mr Kim, who became a general last year despite lacking any military experience. The young man - officially 29 but probably only 27 - has been officially labelled the "great successor" and a "lighthouse of hope".

Yet his inexperience has opened the way for more practised operators to increase their influence. "For someone who was meant to be all-powerful, this was hardly the kind of succession that Kim Jong-il would have wanted," said Kerry Brown, head of the Asia programme at Chatham House.

Despite "intricate calculations that have gone on for quite a while", there was only a "very rickety consensus" behind the succession of the late dictator's third and youngest son, added Mr Brown. "This choice was a big, big compromise," he said.

Three factions may now be taking shape behind the new leader. Perhaps the most significant is led by Chang Sung-taek, a pillar of the regime who serves as vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission. His wife, Kim Kyong-hui, is the younger sister of the late leader. » | David Blair, Chief Foreign Correspondent | Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Kim Jong-un, the Child Soldier, Takes Over in North Korea

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: What is the nation's future under the control of a belligerent new 'Dear Leader’ who is not yet 30?

North Koreans have been introduced to their youthful new leader in a style that befits the last truly totalitarian state on earth. Kim Jong-un, the “Great Successor”, has been hailed variously as a martial genius and the “outstanding leader of our party, army and people”.

The rise of the younger Kim, officially 29 but possibly only 27, has mirrored his father’s physical decline: last year, while the “Dear Leader” ailed, the son was hastily made a four-star general and awarded a senior post in the military high command. When the armed forces bombarded a South Korean island with heavy artillery, before sinking one of their neighbour’s warships with a well-aimed torpedo, stories were circulated giving the new general the credit.

Not many countries would deliberately promote their future leader as a child soldier given to impulsive attacks on other countries. The portrayal of the younger Kim reveals much about the psychology of North Korea’s ossified regime, glorying in its own isolation and obduracy. In particular, it reveals the two principal strands of the impoverished state’s official ideology: militarism and an obsession with racial purity.

Thus North Korea spends about a third of its total gross national product on the armed forces, rendering it probably the most militarised state in the world. If Britain were to follow this example, we would have a defence budget exceeding £400 billion – significantly bigger than America’s. A country in which people eat roots and berries to avoid starvation has built a small arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Instead of being the world’s last Communist state, North Korea is best understood as a murderous laboratory for the utopian fantasies of the fascist Right. Its official propaganda glorifies the moral superiority of the Korean race, as compared with the decadence and depravity of the outside world. The North Korean people are portrayed as being almost childlike in their innocence and purity – so different from the amorality of their neighbours, supposedly corrupted by Western materialism and the corrosive influence of America. Read on and comment » | David Blair | Monday, December 19, 2011

Kim Jong Il Dead: What's Next in N. Korea?
A new crisis emerges in the Far East as the head of a rogue nuclear state dies.

North Korea Mourners Line Up to See Kim Jong-il as Leader Lies In State

THE GUARDIAN: Stream of weeping mourners viewing body in glass coffin include son and successor Kim Jong-un

After the hysterical scenes which greeted news of Kim Jong-il's death, North Korean media struck a more solemn mood on Tuesday as mourners filed past his body and the state prepared for the succession of Kim's youngest son.

North Korean state TV showed weeping mourners pass their former leader, whose body is on display in a glass coffin at the Kumsusan memorial palace in the capital, Pyongyang.

TV screenshots show Kim dressed in his trademark khaki suit, his head on a white pillow and a plain red sheet covering him from the chest down. The bier supporting his casket is bedecked with red and white flowers.

Among the mourners was his youngest son and successor, Kim Jong-un, accompanied by senior figures from the military and ruling Workers' party.

The younger Kim was quoted as expressing the "bitterest grief" over his father's death – a significant choice of words as it was used to describe the nation's mood during the funeral of his grandfather and North Korea's founder, Kim Il-sung, in July 1994. » | Justin McCurry in Tokyo and Tania Branigan in Beijing | Tuesday, December 20, 2011


THE GUARDIAN: Kim Jong Il body displayed, North Korea media hail son » | AP foreign | Tuesday, December 20, 2011

After Kim Jong-il's Death, What Next for the People of North Korea?

THE GUARDIAN: State media said leader died of a heart attack on a train, and swiftly hailed his third son, Kim Jong-un, as the 'great successor'

They howled and whimpered and scrubbed raw eyes with fists. They flailed their arms in grief and marched in their thousands to the capital's landmarks. But no one, outside of North Korea, really knows what North Koreans felt at news of Kim Jong-il's death.

There was shock, of course. Some perhaps wept from sorrow for their Dear Leader, some from sorrow for themselves. Some cried for fear that inadequate public anguish might damn them, and some from anxiety about what lay ahead. Kim veiled his country throughout his life and uncertainty shrouded his death.

State media said he died at 8.30am on Saturday, felled by a heart attack "due to physical and mental overwork", as he travelled by train on one of his innumerable inspection visits. There had been not a whisper of anything unusual in the two days before the announcement.

The official news agency KCNA swiftly hailed his third son, Kim Jong-un, as the "great successor" and "the eminent leader of the military and the party". The young man, thought to be just 28, has been groomed as heir since his father's apparent stroke in 2008.

The 69-year-old left his son a nuclear-armed but impoverished country where food is scarce and human rights abuses rife, and his unexpected death sent a chill far beyond the 24 million inhabitants of North Korea. Politicians in Washington, Seoul, Tokyo and beyond weighed the prospects of a third generation of this communist dynasty with the risk of regional instability. Concerns were underscored by South Korean media reports on Monday that the North had fired short-range missiles, although the Yonhap news agency said the tests had been conducted before the death announcement. The defence ministry in Seoul did not comment.

The South's military was already on high alert, while a spokesman for the Japanese prime minister said he had set up a crisis management team. » | Tania Branigan in Beijing and Justin McCurry in Tokyo | Monday, December 19, 2011

Washington prudent face aux inconnues de Pyongyang

LE FIGARO: Hillary Clinton a appelé à une transition «stable et pacifique» en Corée du Nord.

La mort soudaine du «cher leader» nord-coréen complique l'agenda de Barack Obama dans la région. L'Administration américaine devait prendre ce lundi d'importantes décisions sur la reprise des négociations sur le dossier nucléaire et l'octroi d'aide alimentaire au «royaume ermite». Ces arbitrages devraient, au minimum, être retardés.

La Maison-Blanche a réagi avec prudence à l'annonce du décès de Kim Jong-il, se gardant de commenter la disparition du dictateur. «Nous exprimons à nouveau l'espoir d'une amélioration de nos relations avec le peuple de Corée du Nord et restons profondément soucieux de son bien-être», a indiqué lundi soir Hillary Clinton, espérant une transition «stable et pacifique». Washington stationne toujours 29.000 GI en Corée du Sud.

Dès minuit, dans la nuit de dimanche à lundi, Barack Obama a appelé le président sud-coréen, Lee Myung-bak. L'Administration est également en contact étroit avec les autorités japonaises. Le président s'est toutefois gardé pour l'heure d'offrir ses condoléances à la Corée du Nord. S'il devait faire un tel geste, cela indiquerait une volonté de saisir l'opportunité de la succession à Pyongyang pour tendre la main au nouveau leader désigné, Kim Jong-un. Mais cela pourrait se révéler prématuré, compte tenu de l'incertitude qui enveloppe l'avenir politique de la Corée du Nord et les intentions du «grand successeur». » | Par Adèle Smith | lundi 19 décembre 2011

Kim Jong-il's Successor to Rule North Korea Is Publicly Endorsed by China

THE GUARDIAN: Beijing calls on North Koreans to unify under 'comrade Kim Jong-un' in move to bolster Pyongyang and avoid regional crisis

China has endorsed Kim Jong-un as North Korea's new leader in a gesture of support designed to bolster Pyongyang and avoid regional instability.

The Chinese government announced that co-operation with North Korea would continue. It hailed the late Kim Jong-il as a great leader and a close friend, and called on the North Korean people to unify under the leadership of "comrade Jong-un" and turn their "anguish into strength".

China is crucial to the survival of Pyongyang in the face of international isolation. It has provided economic assistance to North Korea since 2006, when US and South Korean aid dried up after Pyongyang carried out the first of two nuclear tests. In the past 18 months Kim Jong-il travelled four times to China. He also visited Russia, North Korea's other key partner.

Beijing is anxious to avoid any collapse of its often troublesome neighbour, reasoning that this would lead to a flood of refugees and economic migrants across its border. Unlike the US, which wants North Korea to scrap its nuclear capabilities, China's chief strategic concern is to maintain regional stability.

The White House said it was closely monitoring developments on the Korean peninsula following Kim Jong-il's death. It restated its commitment to the "freedom and security" of its allies, with Barack Obama phoning South Korea's president, Lee Myung-bak, at midnight. They agreed to stay in close contact. » | Luke Harding, Tania Branigan in Beijing and Justin McCurry in Tokyo | Monday, December 19, 2011

Kim Jong-il Obituary

THE GUARDIAN: One of the most condemned leaders of the late 20th and early 21st century, Kim Jong-il left North Korea diplomatically isolated and economically broken

Kim Jong-il, who has died aged 69, was the general secretary of the Workers party of Korea, and head of the military in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). He was one of the most reclusive and widely condemned national leaders of the late 20th and early 21st century, leaving his country diplomatically isolated, economically broken and divided from South Korea.

Unsurprisingly for a man who went into mourning for three years after the death in 1994 of his own father, the legendary leader Kim Il-sung, and who in the first 30 years of his political career made no public statements, even to his own people, Kim's career is riddled with claims, counter claims, speculation, and contradiction. There are few hard facts about his birth and early years.

The DPRK propagated an extraordinary tale of his birth occurring on Mount Baekdu, one of Korea's most revered sites, being accompanied by shooting stars in the sky. It is more likely that he was born in a small village in the USSR, while his father was serving as a Soviet-backed general during the second world war [sic].

Kim's early life was spent in the shadows of a self-created legend, his father Kim Il-sung, who was to return to Korea in 1945 after independence from Japan, and establish, initially with Soviet and Chinese support, the DPRK. His brother and mother both died before he was eight. He was to witness the Korean war from 1950 to 1953, in which hundreds of thousands of Koreans, Chinese and Americans as part of a UN force fought across the country, returning almost to the point at which they had started. The armistice signed in 1953 settled the border between South and North Korea at the 38th Parallel.

With the descent of the cold war, relations between the two countries (for this is, to all intents and purposes, what they became after the end of the war) were almost completely broken off, with whole families split for the ensuing decades, some for ever. This event and its after-effects, along with the war against the Japanese in the 1940s, was to cast a long shadow over the years ahead, and led to the creation of the wholly unprecedented worship of Kim Il-sung, and his elevation to almost God-like status. It was also to create the system in which his son was to occupy almost as impossibly elevated a position.

Kim was educated at the newly founded university in Pyongyang, named after his father, graduating in 1964. The 1960s and early 1970s were the golden years for the DPRK. It undertook rapid industrialisation, economically outstripped its southern competitor, and enjoyed the support of both the People's Republic of China, and the Soviet Union. A state ideology, mixing nationalism, and basic Marxist economics, going under the name "Juche", was constructed, and Kim Il-sung effectively silenced, disposed of and cleared away any opposition, isolating the country and exercising an iron grip on the military, the state media and the government and party organs. » | Kerry Brown | Sunday, December 18, 2011

NZZ ONLINE: «Ein Machtvakuum wird es nicht geben» : Der Tod Kim Jong Ils verändert nicht die familiär geprägten Struktur an der Staatsspitze Nordkoreas Der Nordkorea-Experte Walter Klitz geht nicht von einem Machtvakuum in Nordkorea aus. Der angeschlagene Gesundheitszustand des verstorbenen Diktators Kim Jong Il sei bekannt gewesen, als Nachfolger werde schon länger sein Sohn Kim Jong Un aufgebaut. Klitz hält darum die ersten besorgten internationalen Reaktionen für überzogen. » | Interview: Stefan Reis Schweizer | Montag 19. Dezember 2011

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Der nächste Kim: Kim Jong-un ist gefährlich jung für einen Erben der Kim-Dynastie. Seine Ähnlichkeit zu seinem Großvater Kim Il-sung, der möglicherweise chirurgisch nachgeholfen wurde, soll dem Volk suggerieren, dass bald alles wieder wird wie in besseren Zeiten. » | Von PETRA KOLONKO | Montag 19. Dezember 2011

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Kim Jong-il gestorben – Nordkorea feuert Rakete ab - Sohn Nachfolger: Kim Jong-il ist tot. Der 69 Jahre alte Staatschef Nordkoreas erlag einem Herzinfarkt. Nur wenige Stunden nach Bekanntgabe des Todes feuerte Pjöngjang offenbar eine Kurzstreckenrakete ab. » | Quelle: DPA, Reuters | Montag 19. Dezember 2011

LIBÉRATION: «Le pouvoir nord-coréen risque d'être déstabilisé» : Pour Barthélémy Courmont, spécialiste de la Corée du Nord, professeur de science politique à Hallym University en Corée du Sud, la succession de Kim Jong-il peut surtout entraîner des tensions en interne. » | RECUEILLI PAR QUENTIN GIRARD | lundi 19 décembre 2011

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Corée du nord: Kim Jong-Un, «le grand successeur» formé en Suisse : PORTRAIT | A moins de trente ans, Kim Jong-Un, plus jeune fils de l’ex-numéro un nord-coréen Kim Jong-Il, accède à la tête de l’unique dynastie communiste au monde, dotée de l’arme nucléaire. Il n’a rien laissé transparaître de sa personnalité. On sait seulement qu'il parlerait bernois. ¶ «A l’avant-garde de la révolution coréenne se trouve à présent Kim Jong-Un, grand successeur de la cause révolutionnaire du Juché et chef remarquable de notre parti, de notre armée et de notre peuple», a rapporté l’agence officielle nord-coréenne. ¶ Le Juché désigne l’idéologie développée par le fondateur de la République populaire démocratique de Corée (RPDC), Kim Il-Sung, père de Kim Jong-Il et grand-père de Kim Jong-Un, mélange de communisme et d’autosuffisance. » | ATS/AFP | lundi 19 décembre 2011

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Kim Jong-il: double rainbows, fear of flying and Godzilla – 10 things you might not know » | Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo | Monday, December 19, 2011

THE TIMES: Not mad, or bad ... North Koreans are victims of Cold War bad luck » | Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor | Monday, December 19, 2011 [£]