North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (C) visits the 593 Military Unit's Commander School at an undisclosed location in North Korea, in this undated picture released by North Korea's official news agency KCNA June 21, 2010. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died on Saturday (December 17, 2011) state television reported on December 19, 2011. An announcer said he died of physical and mental over-work.
On Monday afternoon, a black-clad newscaster in Pyongyang, sitting in front of a bucolic backdrop of pine trees and snow-capped mountains, was barely able to get out the news. North Korea’s long-time leader Kim Jong Il, she managed to say between sobs, had died on Dec. 17 of a sudden illness. “We make this announcement with great sorrow,” she wept.
The abrupt absence of a leader in one of the world’s most unpredictable nations — though not entirely unexpected given Kim’s visibly declining health in recent years — sent a chill through northeast Asia’s corridors of power.Read the rest of the story here.