UPDATE 1 -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il dies during train ride

[Misterwhisper]

That will definitely put a serious dent in the annual turnover figures of Hennessy cognac.

[a99az]

2011........a bad year for dictators world-wide.

With luck it will continue into the next millennium.

[maximillian]

About time that there was some good news.

The world is now a better (safer) place.

Are you joking ? Guess his son will be his successor. Maybe worse, hardly any better.

[MAJIC]

2011........a bad year for dictators world-wide.

A good year for the people though, lets have some more candidates of a similar nature!

[pxlgirl]

Here are the nominees for best adapted screenplay ...

... and the Oscar goes to ... ???

[mpoppel]

Another video of the dramatic scenes in Pyongyang..

[MESmith]

"Let the train take the strain".......

[oldfatslob]

Ok, I have no ties to North Korea, and don't care if anyone who does reads what I have to say. Thank GOD he's dead. May his sons soon follow. There, I said it. So many times I have said, "I hope he drops dead." Yaaaay, it finally happened. I'm celebrating right now by drinking to his death. Wish wish wishing still, may his heirs to the throne soon meet Miss Fortune, or is it now Missus?

[MAJIC]

Gaddhafi, Osama and Kim Ill all in 2011. What a banner year!

In Wine termanology,2011 truly a "Vintage Year"

[scotbeve]

Joke all you want, guys, but now that he is dead and his son is still young and inexperienced, there will be a lot of uncertainty on the Korean peninsula.

You can bet that both Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing are in high alert mode right now.

edit: More to the point, if some one feels frisky and decides to make a daring move, it could escalate very badly.

Could nor agree more on those points!!

Need to bring out the old clips featuring "Duck and Cover"...

[scotbeve]

2011........a bad year for dictators world-wide.

With luck it will continue into the next millennium.

Your avatar ... so why can't a really cool fellow like Dalai Lama "tend / mend" the world (much needed!!!!)??

[pacovl46]

About time!!! Let's just hope his son is cut from different wood!!!

[harleyclarkey]

Good...pity it was later rather than sooner.

This nut case lived for far too long. Millions of his own people have died from starvation and in captivity.

The danger now is that the military, who rule and govern the country with an steel and iron fist to protect their cruel and abusiuve position, will possibly see a vacuum with his inexperienced 28 year old novice dictator heir. Not good times ahead for the penninsula with the S Koreans already on high alert.

His son was educated in a private Swiss school, speaks English and German, so lets hope to God he has some sense of the outside world...but there again are the boys with the guns right on his shoulder.

Oh...trust the Chinese to back this great late lamented leader. They are crying into their soup today with loving statements of this great man (in their eyes only). They also back the Syrians in their mass murder of their own civilians. The Chinese have always seen nothing wrong with this kind of thuggish brutal government.....remember Tibet? Remember the monks in Burma? Brutalised, courtesy of the Chinese. Now they willingly back another nut.

Long overdue for the West to stop giving China all of our manufacturing and wealth. Korea would probably have settled down long ago without the Chinese backing fly eyes.

Edited December 19, 2011 by harleyclarkey

[WarpSpeed]

About time that there was some good news.

The world is now a better (safer) place.

Not yet convinced of that.. Still remains to be seen but a rather large carrot from the world community would be a wise decision right now..

[WarpSpeed]

About time!!! Let's just hope his son is cut from different wood!!!

Apples...trees... Lets hope so though.. His father was cut from different wood too but the wood was even more rotten unfortunately .

Edited December 19, 2011 by WarpSpeed

[wxyz]

now that's funny

[bigbamboo]

2011........a bad year for dictators world-wide.

Robert Mugabe next?? There is still time.

That would quite a treble........ a real unholy trinity.

[timberboy]

now that's funny

Nah don't you cry little boys and girls. Big daddy dictators third son will take over now and continue to tell you how to think ,what to eat, and how to blow your nose and wipe your ass!!!!! Three cheers! the Red Menace still survives in some places .Give me a break!

Edited December 19, 2011 by timberboy

[bigbamboo]

now that's funny

That's not funny, that's just bad. I've seen more convincing performances in Thai soap operas!

[benbear]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ6E3cShcVU

On the backs of doves and swans or cranes Kim Jong will be carried, wait a minute he isn't dead .You do have to wonder.

Edited December 19, 2011 by benbear

[Old Croc]

A great loss. With Gaddafi gone as well, who is left to guide the world's fashion industry?

The sash is timeless:

[harleyclarkey]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ6E3cShcVU

On the backs of doves and swans or cranes Kim Jong will be carried, wait a minute he isn't dead .You do have to wonder.

Very, very scary.

It is like another planet...which it is in reality.

[chooka]

The world has lost a true sporting great. Has there ever been another person to shoot 11 holes in one in a single round of golf and on their debut game?

Edited December 19, 2011 by Scott

[maidu]

His favorite 2 movie series (out of collection of tens of thousands) were the Rambo and Friday the 13th series. Go figure.

He could be in another dimension now, playing kick the dead chicken in a cement room with no windows, along with Pol Pot, Bukassa, Amin, Papa Doc and the others.

Here's a North Korean joke: What does Kim Jong-il gives his secret girlfriends after shagging them? Answer: A bullet in the belly.

[Reasonableman]

The ABC headline says he "died at 69". Maybe the "overwork" was 69-related, resulting in the heart attack? An idle speculation...

[KeyserSoze01]

Too bad, as I understand that Dr Evil and Mini-Me are tied up in a movie contract, but perhaps Goldmember is available to advise the new clone, Kim Jong Un.

[Scott]

A unnecessarily nasty, off-topic post has been removed.

[Tanaka]

I'd better re-do my will....I often feel physical fatigue. Didn't know one could actually die of it.

It happened during an early morning train ride. Maybe he pulled the train? Being the great leader that would of course have been possible for him.

But his youngest son is now supposed to take over the leadership which does not look good for the country. He is not known to have the smartest brain in the nest.

[tw25rw]

The son was educated in Switzerland, so should know how well a country can work and how happy it's people can be. He would also know how foreigners view his country and his Dad.. Hopefully he wants to change things for the better and has enough influence to drive it through.

[baboon]

I'd better re-do my will....I often feel physical fatigue. Didn't know one could actually die of it.

It happened during an early morning train ride. Maybe he pulled the train? Being the great leader that would of course have been possible for him.

But his youngest son is now supposed to take over the leadership which does not look good for the country. He is not known to have the smartest brain in the nest.

Not known by whom?