Kim Jong-Il, ill, Possibly Dead for 5 Years

Today marks the 60th anniversary of North Korea's founding. It is being celebrated by suffering masses of people who would be afraid not to celebrate. A possible sign that something is wrong is that Jong-Il did not appear for the party. U.S. intelligence agencies think that Kim suffered a major stroke. Another suggestion from Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Japan's Waseda University, is that Kim died five years ago, and four stand-ins have took his place at public appearances, and party officials have been the puppet masters.

Believe it or not, schools in North Korea have deified Kim and his late father Kim Il-sung, the original dictator, where students are taught that they don't even urinate or defecate like mortal humans (Wikipedia). Now that's a cult of personality dictator. There's way too much of it slung around in our society to qualify anyone for deity status.

In any event if his death is announced in North Korea, the grief or fear will create a wail so loud that it will make Ayatollah Khomeini's 1989 funeral in Iran look like it was just the hamster that died. If his death is a fact then perhaps there is hope in that country which let 2 million people starve to death in three years - military build up was the priority. Well, duh!

If a new leader allows human rights, he could "dictate" some sense back into the country. In that case, people will be chillin'. If a new leader is another Kim Jong-Il, people will be illin'.