Kim Jong-Il Dead

Questions swirl over the future of the North Korean regime as Kim's son, Kim Jong-un, looks likely to rise to power.

Kim Jong-il, North Korea's "Great Leader" who turned the isolated dictatorship into a nuclear power, has died, according to North Korean state television. Kim, believed to be either 69 or 70, died of a heart attack on Saturday after three years of ill health following a stroke in 2008. He had ruled North Korea with an unrelenting fist for 17 years, succeeding his father, Kim Il-sung, a revolutionary war leader who founded the communist dictatorship. Kim is expected to be succeeded by his third son, 20-something Kim Jong-un, who was named a four-star general last year by his father. Whether the youngest Kim is capable of holding together the country in the wake of his father's death is anyone's guess, but reports suggest that North Korean soldiers were seen swearing oaths to the heir. South Korea's military is on high alert and has beefed up security along the border with North Korea, the Demilitarized Zone, a 250-kilometre stretch of fortifications that has ominously separated the two Koreas since a ceasefire brought an end to the fighting in 1953. A funeral for Kim will be held on Dec. 28, but your condolences should probably go to the 23 million people who live in North Korea who've had to put up with Kim's mad pursuit of military dominance in the region instead of, you know, feeding his people.