North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died at the age of 69, the country's state-run television said this mroning. Kim died on a train while visiting an area outside Pyongyang, according to the announcement. The tyrant, who had a liking for cognac and lobster, suffered a stroke in 2008 and was absent from public view for months, but North Korean television showed him to be in good health during is recent trips to Russia and China.
I don't believe in celebrating anyone's death, no matter how the person may have been. Having said that, I can now declare that North Korea (and the world by default) is a much better place. Kim was as evil and brutal a dictator as could have possibly been.
I spent 4 days in North Korea in 2005, something that I can't write much about at this moment, as the government may go after a dear friend of mine. I can say though that I felt like kneeling and kissing the ground, when I left the country and entered Nakhodka in the Russian side of the border.
But for those of you who want to get a glimpse of North Korea under Kim, please read 'This is Paradise!: My North Korean Childhood' by Hyok Kang, a North Korean who managed to escape the brutality of Stalinist North Korea. The book is one of the most disturbing personal accounts of life in the 'great paradise.'
I don't believe in celebrating anyone's death, no matter how the person may have been. Having said that, I can now declare that North Korea (and the world by default) is a much better place. Kim was as evil and brutal a dictator as could have possibly been.
I spent 4 days in North Korea in 2005, something that I can't write much about at this moment, as the government may go after a dear friend of mine. I can say though that I felt like kneeling and kissing the ground, when I left the country and entered Nakhodka in the Russian side of the border.
But for those of you who want to get a glimpse of North Korea under Kim, please read 'This is Paradise!: My North Korean Childhood' by Hyok Kang, a North Korean who managed to escape the brutality of Stalinist North Korea. The book is one of the most disturbing personal accounts of life in the 'great paradise.'
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