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Pyongyang North Korea

December 19, 2011 by · Comments Off on Pyongyang North Korea 

Pyongyang North Korea, North Koreans poured into the streets on Monday to mourn the death of leader Kim Jong-il as state media hailed his untested son as the “Great Successor” of the reclusive state whose atomic weapons ambitions are a major threat to the region.

Earlier a tearful North Korean television announcer, dressed in black and her voice quavering, said the 69-year old ruler died on Saturday of “physical and mental over-work” on a train on his way to give field guidance – advice dispensed by the “Dear Leader” on trips to factories, farms and the military.

Security concerns over the hermit state, that in 2010 shelled civilians on a South Korean island and is blamed for the sinking of one of its warships earlier that year, were heightened after Seoul said the North had test-fired a short range missile prior to the announcement of Kim’s death.

It was the first known launch since June.

North Korea’s official KCNA news agency lauded Kim’s youngest son, Kim Jong-un as “the outstanding leader of our party, army and people.”

“We have esteemed comrade Kim Jong-un,” KCNA led a dispatch that said North Koreans from all walks of life are in utter despair but were finding comfort in the “absolute surety that the leadership of Comrade Kim Jong-un will lead and succeed the great task of revolutionary enterprise.”

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