The shock announcement Monday of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il’s death has
The shock announcement Monday of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il’s death has raised fears of turbulence in the nuclear-armed nation which has been plunged into a second dynastic succession.
Kim’s youngest son Kim Jong-Un has been declared in state media as the nation’s next leader but little is known about him or his path to power.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN NOW?
Kim Jong-Il’s body is to lie in state in Kumsusan palace where the embalmed body of his father — Kim Il-Sung, the founder and “eternal leader” of North Korea who died in 1994 — is on display.
After Kim’s funeral on December 28, thoughts will turn to the succession but there are few details as to how it will be carried out. Kim Jong-Un’s status as heir apparent was only made clear in September 2010.
Even Kim Jong-Il, who was openly groomed for the leadership and designated as successor some 14 years before his own father died, did not formally take over the leadership of the ruling party for three years afterwards.
WHO IS IN CHARGE?
The workings of the North Korean leadership — which managed to keep the leader’s death a secret for two days — are notoriously opaque.
But all the signs so far are that Kim Jong-Un is being installed as the nation’s new leader under the category_idance of his aunt and uncle who will act as his mentors and as a backstop for a young man with no power base of his own.
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WHY DOES NORTH KOREA MATTER?
North Korea is a formidable enemy, with some 1.19 million men under arms, as well as an arsenal of chemical and conventional weapons including thousands of short- and medium-range missiles.
It has also test-launched Taepodong missiles in its quest for an intercontinental ballistic missile that could potentially strike the United States.
Most estimates say the North has enough plutonium to build six to eight atomic weapons, but it is unclear whether it can make nuclear warheads for its missiles.
Efforts to denuclearize North Korea through six-nation talks including the US and China have dominated regional diplomacy in recent years.
The United States made little immediate comment, but swiftly closed ranks with its ally South Korea, with President Barack Obama calling his close friend President Lee Myung-Bak to discuss the development.
Source AFP