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Thin-looking Kim Jong Il makes rare appearance
Thin-Looking Kim Jong Il Makes Rare Appearance
Thin-looking Kim Jong Il makes rare appearance as NKoreans remember nation's founder
PYONGYANG, North Korea July 8, 2009 (AP)
In this image made off KRT footage distributed by APTN, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, center front, offers a silent prayer during the 15th anniversary of the death of Kim Il-sung, his father and founder of the country, in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, July 8, 2009. A thin-looking Kim Jong Il made a rare public appearance Wednesday as North Korea paid solemn respects to his father, the country's late founder, on the 15th anniversary of his death.
(KRT via APTN, File/AP Photo)
A thin-looking Kim Jong Il made a rare public appearance Wednesday as North Korea paid solemn respects to his father, the country's late founder, on the 15th anniversary of his death.
The memorial was the second major state event that the 67-year-old Kim has attended in person since reportedly suffering a stroke last summer. In early April, he presided over a parliamentary meeting where he was re-elected as leader.
Footage from broadcaster APTN showed Kim dressed in a khaki suit, looking more gaunt and with less hair than in April. As in April, he limped slightly while walking into the packed Pyongyang auditorium in what is believed to be an effect from the stroke.
Kim bowed his head during a moment of silence. A portrait of a giant red flag with an image of his father, a smiling Kim Il Sung, dominated the backdrop.
Kim's health has sparked concerns about instability and a power struggle if he were to die without naming a successor. His third and youngest son, Kim Jong Un, has widely been reported as being groomed as heir, but the regime has made no announcement to the outside world.
Wednesday's memorial came after the North conducted a number of banned ballistic missile tests last weekend, fueling tensions already running high after Pyongyang's second nuclear test on May 25 led to punishing U.N. sanctions.
The regime used the memorial to criticize the United States and South Korea.
"We will sternly smash the U.S. imperialist forces and South Korea's puppet regime anti-unification plot," Kim Yong Nam, the North's No. 2 leader, told the ceremony, according to footage broadcast on state television.
"We will achieve the historical mission of national unification by realizing" Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il's policies for that, he added.
Kim Il Sung died of heart failure on July 8, 1994 at the age of 82. He ran the communist country with an iron grip and was the object of an intense personality cult.
Streams of North Koreans visited a huge bronze statue of their late founder standing on a hill overlooking the capital. They laid flowers and bowed repeatedly.
"The great leader, President Kim Il Sung, is always alive — not only in the hearts of our people, but also in the minds of people all over the world," said Hwang In San, a Pyongyang resident
The North's Korean Central News Agency reported that the younger Kim visited the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, where Kim Il Sung's embalmed body lies, accompanied by top military generals.
Kim Jong Il assumed power after his father's death, though he did not take on his father's title of president. He runs North Korea from his post as chairman of the National Defense Commission.
In Seoul, dozens of conservative South Korean activists staged an anti-North Korea rally, torching a North Korean flag covered with crossed-out photos of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un.
The rally took place in front of the home of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who held the first-ever inter-Korean summit with Kim Jong Il in 2000. Protesters accused the former president of providing the North with massive aid and helping fund Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.
———
Associated Press writers Jae-soon Chang, Hyung-jin Kim, Kelly Olsen and AP Television News cameraman Yong-ho Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
page 1 - Thin-Looking Kim Jong Il Makes Rare Appearance - ABC News
page 2 - Thin-Looking Kim Jong Il Makes Rare Appearance - ABC News
I cannot see him without thinking of this
"Oh herrroooo, Mr. Hans Brix"
Originally Posted by cmmdee
I cannot see him without thinking of this
Little Kim.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziQW-pq4PnM[/YOUTUBE]I cannot see him without thinking of this
oh wow he looks terrible! even his pompadour hair is gone
good!
little kim = best nickname ever.
I'm open to everything. When you start to criticise the times you live in, your time is over. - Karl Lagerfeld
Kim Jong-il has pancreatic cancer – S Korea TV
Posted Sun, 07/12/2009 - 18:20 by admin
Concern about the long-term stability of North Korea mounted today following reports that the country's leader, Kim Jong-il, has pancreatic cancer.
The South Korean broadcaster YTN made the announcement about the leader's health in an unsourced news flash this morning. Kim, 67, has ruled the reclusive communist country with absolute authority since his the death of his father, the founder of the state, Kim Il-sung, in 1994. His health is one of the most closely guarded secrets in North Korea.
Kim looked gaunt during a rare appearance last Wednesday, when the country marked the anniversary of his father's death. North Korean television showed Kim looking thin and frail.
He usually does not speak at public events; however he has had an active public profile in recent months since re-emerging after a suspected stroke last year. This raised questions about who will succeed him and who will control the country's military and weapons programmes. Some reports have said Kim has anointed his youngest son, Jong-un.
South Korean officials have said the North's recent military grandstanding, including its nuclear test in May, was aimed at helping Kim pave the way for his successor.
The South's unification minister, Hyun In-taek, has said Kim's grip on power has become stronger as he brought to the fore figures sympathetic to his succession plans. North Korea's propaganda machine has carefully managed Kim's re-emergence from his illness with reports of tours to factories and military bases, mostly still photographs of the visits.
The UN imposed further sanctions against North Korea after the nuclear test in May, aimed at cutting the country's lucrative arms trade.
Kim Jong-il has pancreatic cancer – S Korea TV | Your progressive news source.
His son's gonna have awfully big women's sunglasses to fill.
hahahahaha he's gonna die
and then his son will take over......
Well, the whore apples sure didn't fall far from the whore tree. Sylkyn
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