North Korean Ruler Kim Jong-il is no more announces State TV.

It is a Nation that is shrouded with secrecy and a country still under nominally communist rule.  Its nuclear ambitions have exacerbated its rigidly maintained isolation from the rest of the world.  The country emerged in 1948 amid the chaos following the end of World War II. …………… and the man credited with dominating its history and shaping its political  was Kim Il-Sung – the  country is North Korea.

The supreme leader of North Korea Kim Jong-il also Kim Jong Il is no more.  Today, 19^th Dec 2011,  North Korean television  announced the death of 69-year-old Kim Jong-il, who has led the communist nation since 1994. He suffered a stroke in 2008 and was absent from public view for months. The announcer, wearing black, made the emotional announcement, saying he had died of physical and mental over-work.  Kim Jong-il  had been  one of the world's most reclusive and enigmatic leaders, presiding over a secretive and internationally isolated country.  The world's only hereditary communist ruler,  had been criticised for flagrant human rights abuses and for threatening the stability of the region by pursuing a nuclear weapons programme and testing long-range missiles.  

When he assumed power after the death of his father, Kim Il-sung, in 1994, very little was known about Kim Jong-il. He had seldom been seen in public.  He was said to have personally ordered the shooting down of a South Korean airliner in 1987.

Kim Jong-il, also written as Kim Jong Il, birth name Yuri Irsenovich Kim  - as per Soviet records, his birth date is 16/2/1941 and going by North Korean records it is 16/2/1942.    He was the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). He was the Chairman of the National Defence Commission, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, the ruling party since 1948, and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, the fourth largest standing army in the world.

His image in North Korea was one of a hero in the typical manner of the dictator's cult of personality, though South Korea would like to portray him otherwise.  Official North Korean accounts say he was born in a log cabin and the event was reportedly marked by a double rainbow and a bright star in the sky.  This leader was reported to be obsessive with cinema and reportedly had a library of 20,000 Hollywood movies and to have even written a book on the cinema.  In 1991, he was elected supreme commander of the Korean People's Army.  He succeeded his father on his death in 1994.

In August 2008 a report appeared in a Japanese news magazine claiming that Kim Jong-il had died in 2003 and that his supposed public appearances had, in fact, been undertaken by body doubles.   A month later US intelligence sources claimed Kim had suffered a stroke, following reports that he had failed to appear at a military parade to mark the country's 60th anniversary. Amid rumour and counter rumour the North Korean authorities released a video in April 2009 which claimed to show Kim making official visits to factories during November and December 2008. He made a dramatic appearance in August 2009 when former US President, Bill Clinton, flew to North Korea to secure the release of two American journalists, who had been arrested after allegedly illegally entering North Korea in March.

His death at the age of 69 on 17 December 2011 was announced on state television.  In a democracy every news is public whilst in Communist states, deaths are often announced officially, days after the actual incident  !!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.