North Korea - North Korean leader to be succeeded by 3rd son

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has died, North Korea's state radio and television reported in special broadcasts at noon Monday. He was 69.

Kim, general secretary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, died at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on a train while on his way to give "field guidance" to workers, the reports said.

He died of physical and mental strain from overwork, the reports added.

North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim suffered a serious heart attack on Saturday.

The same day, the agency made an official announcement that Kim's third son, Kim Jong Un, 28, would succeed his father as leader.

But it is highly likely that North Korea will become unstable during the process of power transition, according to observers.

Referred as North Korea's "dear leader," Kim maintained a dictatorship in the country for 17 years following the death of his father, Kim Il Sung, in 1994.

After he was named his father's successor in a general meeting of the party Central Committee in February 1974, he steadily solidified his power base until his father's death.

Kim had held key posts such as Workers' Party of Korea general secretary; the Central Military Commission chairman, which is the country's top post; and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army.

Despite North Korea's economic strain, Kim Jong Il took the lead of the country's nuclear and missile development programs.

Under his leadership, the country carried out two nuclear tests, in October 2006 and in May 2009.

Kim held summit talks with former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in 2002 and 2004, in which he admitted for the first time that North Korea had abducted Japanese nationals.

In a special broadcast by Korean Central Television, a female announcer clad in black Korean traditional dress reported Kim Jong Il's death. Kim's black-rimmed portrait was shown during the news.

According to the "medical conclusion" on the leader's death, which the KCNA reported, Kim had received treatment for heart and cerebrovascular vessel failures for years.

His funeral will be held in Pyongyang on Dec. 28 as a state event, and his body will be placed in the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where his father's embalmed body lies, the news agency said.

North Korea has been accelerating moves to establish a system for Kim's successor, positioning 2012 as the year for "opening the grand gate toward a great, prosperous and powerful nation."

On Sept. 28, 2010, Kim Jong Un was elected as a Central Committee member at a conference of party delegates and named a vice chairman of the party's Central Military Commission, a new post, at a general meeting of the committee.

He also was named a general in the Korean People's Army.

The transition of power will be the first for the country since Kim Jong Il assumed power.

Although he has joined the leadership of the country's party and army, Kim Jong Un has not yet had enough time to prepare for succession from his father. It remains unknown how far he has assumed the reins of power and taken control of his subordinates.

Takayuki Nakagawa

The Yomiuri Shimbun

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