Word: jong
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...North Korean government - in the person of 80-year-old Kim Yong Nam, ostensibly Kim's second in command - said on Sept. 10 there was "no problem" with the Dear Leader. Still, a senior South Korean intelligence analyst told TIME that "something strange has clearly happened. We know Kim Jong Il has been out of sight for a few weeks, and we know physicians from outside North Korea have come to Pyongyang. But that's all we know at this point, and we believe our intelligence on this matter is [better] than...
...Governments in Washington, Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo are now running this drill, because anonymous intelligence sources are saying Kim Jong Il, the 66-year-old dictator in Pyongyang, is ill. He might even have had a stroke, the reports say, and in any case he did not show up for the mass 'celebration' the country threw for its 60th anniversary, a pretty unusual absence, even for a North Korean leader not known for his predictability...
...profited from the country's extensive illicit businesses (narcotics, weapons, pirated cigarettes and pharmaceuticals) and hold powerful government posts. No one knows who will emerge as the new leader. Speculation often centers on one of his three sons, the favorite being the Swiss-educated, alleged Eric Clapton fan, Kim Jong Chul (though in a memoir published last year, Kim's former sushi chef, a Japanese citizen with the pseudonym Kenji Fujimoto, says Jong Chul, who is in his late 20s, is out because his father once said, "he is no good because he is like a little girl...
...safe bet for an analyst trying to predict outcomes using limited information is to assume the status quo will prevail. But sometimes history can veer off the beaten path in cruel ways. The possibility that Kim Jong Il's death could make things worse for the benighted North Koreans is unpleasant to contemplate. Then again, North Korea under the Kim family dynasty has been a singularly cruel place...
...photos of Kim Jong Il here...