How ill is Il?
 

Perhaps we should start a betting pool on the fate of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea after his succession takes place?

I'd wager for a small civil war between his sons.

Are there any democratic states left? Most states have turned communistic / socialistic, including pretty much all of Europe. Since this is the case, I's have to say that NK is going to be more of the same in the future!

What do you mean? There are plenty of democratic states - dozens, even.

European social democracys (Norway and Sweeden being prime examples, but with many more of Europe, agruably, falling in to the same catogry) are still very much democratic states. Wiki

That's all the people in NK and the region need ...a civil war :nope:

If I was in South Korea, I would be rather worried if the military took power :down:...after all, NK and SK are still "technically" at war! There was never a peace treaty signed.

A military government would be worrying, but it could be over pretty quickly - militaries are historically pretty bad at running states. Are they worse than Kim Jong Il? I don't know.

Hm... can't be the first time a dictator dies. KJI inherited the state from his father iirc. Anyone here enough of a historian to give us non-historians some examples in history when dictators kick the bucket?

I'm inclined to believe that there's always a number two guy with his finger on the trigger ready to seize control... and that everyone in the "inner circle" already knows who's going to do it.

What is you lightning example for democracy?:-?

The europese country's are very democratic, thank you.
When people vote for socialist parties its there democratic right. :up:

I'd wager they change the name to "The Cunning and Glorious Emperor's Feudal Realm of Korea" and then institute mandatory voting for local and federal government officials, require all citizens to pass literacy tests, removing the land mines from the DMZ, putting up cellphone towers in cities and mandating five satellite phones in each rural village powered by solar panels and RTG's, releasing all prisoners in Kwan Li So, and using all the money hidden in Swiss bank accounts to modernize the agriculture industry.

He's not sick, he's just ronery.

I won't mourn the man for a second when he passes on. I only hope there will be some sort of improvement in ruling system. The North Korean people are indoctrinated pretty much from birth to consider their leaders supernatural, swallowing stories of magical powers and eternal life (see, Kim Il-Sung is just asleep, the 10 000 cranes that descended to lift him into Heaven upon his death turned back empty-handed when they saw the people of North Korea mourning their dead leader), so we can't expect help from them. There are several documentaries on Google Video and YouTube about the country and its rulers - Children of the Secret State is definitely worth your closer inspection.

In the case of transfer of power between Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il, I believe Jong-Il was favoured to be the next leader and that his brother was sent away to a remote part of the country to keep him from starting a power struggle, so it went completely peacefully, as far as I know. What the next succession will be like, though, I don't know.

Even if this is just a joke, what's with all these right-wing people thinking Europe is a Hell-hole of semi-dictatorship and poverty:-??

Get National Geographics' Inside North Korea DVD and be sickened by just how indoctrinated (and frightened) the people are. :cry:

Not too dissimilar to what China was like not so many years back :nope: