Kim Jong-un Assassinated?!?

[Bergman]

It's not Wing Attack Plan R

Well played. I only hope the new generation gets the reference....

Edited October 12, 2014 by Bergman

[Clark Griswold]

Well played. I only hope the new generation gets the reference....

[B52gator]

I miss his old man...

[ToHoldShort]

James Franco might have gotten to him. Apparently surgery gone bad 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/20/politics/kim-jong-un-north-korea/index.html

Edited April 21, 2020 by ToHoldShort

[elvis]

3 hours ago, ToHoldShort said:

James Franco might have gotten to him. Apparently surgery gone bad 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/20/politics/kim-jong-un-north-korea/index.html

 

[M2]

16 hours ago, ToHoldShort said:

James Franco might have gotten to him. Apparently surgery gone bad 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/20/politics/kim-jong-un-north-korea/index.html

Really?  CNN?  

[gearhog]

Hong Kong TV is saying Kim Jong dead.

 

[FLEA]

Japanese media is reporting that he is in a vegitative state. This is a shockingly interesting development if that is true. 

Edited April 25, 2020 by FLEA

[drewpey]

thoughts and prayers!

[pawnman]

Satellite news out of Beijing is saying he's dead.

 

https://www.wearethemighty.com/kim-jong-un-dead

[waveshaper]

Little "fat ass" rocket man most likely has a few underlying health conditions, particular his heart. I wouldn't be surprised that his death (if he really is dead?) was via heart attack/failure, both his his daddy and grandfather officially died from a heart attack.

[nsplayr]

His heart was so full with love for The People that it could no longer sustain his worldly body 😁

Screw that guy, glad if he's dead. Will be interesting to see how stable NK is without a clear heir...I'm sure China is on red alert, a global pandemic is a terrible time for a massive refugee crisis.

[waveshaper]

Last round - history lesson on this Nork heir stuff: 

"Re-Engaging North Korea
After Kim Jong-il’s Death:
Last, Best Hope or Dialogue
to Nowhere?"

https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/0111_north_korea_revere.pdf

[FLEA]

48 minutes ago, Kiloalpha said:

Maybe I’m jaded, but it’ll either be some top general somewhere or his sister. The sister is either going to make her granddaddy proud and be a crazy bitch, or she’ll sneakily move toward peace because she’s tired of not being able to use Instagram.

Side note, we know what MacArthur would do if he was still alive... but do the ROK/US/UN troops try to seize on any advantage? With the nukes, and how pacifist the ROK seems to be, probably not.

Uhhhh I would not describe the ROK as pacifist. Having worked closely with them I think there were more times we had to pull them off then fence than the other way around. 

Also, this is not neccessarily a good thing. It's certainly better than full on hostilities but if you've seen the discussion on what would happen if nK internally collapsed you would know the global security crises it's likely to generate is going to be massive. 

Edited April 25, 2020 by FLEA

[SurelySerious]

9 minutes ago, FLEA said:

 

Also, this is not neccessarily a good thing. It's certainly better than full on hostilities but if you've seen the discussion on what would happen if nK internally collapsed you would know the global security crises it's likely to generate is going to be massive. 

Checks. 

 

And the idea sometimes floated of trying to integrate North and the South is incredibly difficult. Then consider it takes away China’s buffer from a close US ally, and you have to question whether they would let that happen. It really is all a mess. 

[jice]

1 hour ago, Kiloalpha said:

Side note, we know what MacArthur would do if he was still alive... but do the ROK/US/UN troops try to seize on any advantage? With the nukes, and how pacifist the ROK seems to be, probably not.

Tactical advantage? Sure. Strategically: What’s the desired end-state for Korea and does a war on the peninsula get us there faster? More broadly, even if the conflict stays conventional, do we want that unstable smoking mess in the middle of our don’t-call-it-a-Cold War?

26 minutes ago, FLEA said:

Uhhhh I would not describe the ROK as pacifist. Having worked closely with them I think there were more times we had to pull them off then fence than the other way around. 

This. Three generations of Korean military have planned to fight this war so their kids don’t have to. 

Edited April 25, 2020 by jice

[DirkDiggler]

13 minutes ago, FLEA said:

Uhhhh I would not describe the ROK as pacifist. Having worked closely with them I think there were more times we had to pull them off then fence than the other way around. 

Also, this is not neccessarily a good thing. It's certainly better than full on hostilities but if you've seen the discussion on what would happen if nK internally collapsed you would know the global security crises it's likely to generate is going to be massive. 

2

A NK collapse would be a complete clusterfuck for multiple reasons (mass refugee/humanitarian crisis, high potential of loose/missing WMD, high potential for rapid Chinese involvement with uncertain end states, possibility of long term guerrilla warfare in very challenging terrain).  There’s also a sizable subset of the ROK that doesn’t want to reunification due to the huge impact/drag that the reconstruction of NK would cause on the ROK economy (think East and West Germany).  Let alone this occurring in the middle of COVID-19, with the possible spread on a malnourished, vulnerable population with a basically non-functional healthcare system.  We would probably spend years unfucking a situation like this and probably have little to show for it.

If it’s true, I’m glad that fat bastard is dead, but I hope whoever replaces him manages to hold the place together.

[HuggyU2]

4 hours ago, nsplayr said:

I'm sure China is on red alert, a global pandemic is a terrible time for a massive refugee crisis.

True... and I feel bad for China if that happens.  

Edited April 25, 2020 by HuggyU2

[Orbit]

Fake news or ahead of the reporting curve? I'll just leave this here.

https://www.tmz.com/2020/04/25/north-korea-dictator-kim-jong-un-dead-dies-heart-surgery-reports/?fbclid=IwAR2izg14ovM8Fm4ckB5s2RsSMWi0vI4gyDRJQnFuguqI8UKVTy2ZZx51gzQ

[FLEA]

Best case scenario in my opinion is a strong general or party leader with a moderate political leaning is able to garner enough support to purge the remnants of the Kim family and hold the thrown himself. Then slowly step back isolation over decades to enter the world economy. But the likelihood of all those stars alligning is pretty narrow. 

Worst case scenario is the party collapses and a handful of "strong men" generals and party chiefs vie for position and fracture with a divide on whether to reach out to China or ROK for aid. Internal civil war that makes Syria look like a game of highschool slap ass ensues and the accountability of over 50 nuclear weapons goes missing in a land with a sizeable population of people who either have nothing to win and everything to lose or everything to win and nothing to lose. Take your pick which will be more reckless. Civilian population on both ends will then flood the ROK, Chinese and Russian borders, of which none of those countries will be prepared to recieve them. The potential that China will want to enter nK to pacify portions near it's border and take control of said nuclear weapons will put us at odds with portions of the ROK that will want to continue to claim political sovereignty over the north. It's going to be an enormous nightmare that will drain trillions out of the world economy and likely lead to the most of millions of lives. 

[Stoker]

12 minutes ago, FLEA said:

... will put us at odds with portions of the ROK that will want to continue to claim political sovereignty over the north. 

Does the ROK claim sovereignty over the whole peninsula? I didn't think so, and it seems like most political parties are very much pro status quo as basically nobody in the South wants to shoulder any portion of the massive burden rebuilding the north would be. They see how difficult it was (and still is!) when Good Germany annexed East Germany, and the disparity in wealth, education, and political systems were all far smaller than South Korea vs. North Korea.

[waveshaper]

This article covers the health issues of the Kim dynasty (25 April/5:37 PM EDT):

- "Kim Jong Un weighs about as much as the average-size sumo wrestler, smokes like a chimney and comes from a family with a history of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes."

- "North Korea’s dictator, believed to be 36, tips the scales at just about 300 pounds but stands only 5 feet, 6 inches. And he is a chain smoker, puffing on four packs of coffin sticks a day."

- "The blubber comes from Kim’s love of cheese and wine, Newsweek reported a few years ago. He once had to take a breather from public life after he gobbled too much Emmental cheese that he had ordered from Switzerland. Six years ago, his booze budget topped $30 million, according to a UN report."

-  "Kim Jong Il dispatched dozens of scientists to create aphrodisiacs for himself. He had a harem of young girlfriends and was a heavy drinker and loved processed food. During Kim Jong II’s 17 years in power, North Korea was often the world’s largest purchaser of Hennessy Paradis cognac."

- Etc, etc, etc.

https://nypost.com/2020/04/25/kim-jong-un-has-a-long-family-history-of-heart-disease-diabetes/

[jice]

22 minutes ago, Stoker said:

Does the ROK claim sovereignty over the whole peninsula? I didn't think so, and it seems like most political parties are very much pro status quo as basically nobody in the South wants to shoulder any portion of the massive burden rebuilding the north would be. They see how difficult it was (and still is!) when Good Germany annexed East Germany, and the disparity in wealth, education, and political systems were all far smaller than South Korea vs. North Korea.

Depends on whether you read the words or actions. Ever visited the reunification train station? It’s basically built like a movie set; pretty clear nobody actually expects to use it (likely because it will be annihilated in the first 30 seconds of the war). 

[FLEA]

1 hour ago, Stoker said:

Does the ROK claim sovereignty over the whole peninsula? I didn't think so, and it seems like most political parties are very much pro status quo as basically nobody in the South wants to shoulder any portion of the massive burden rebuilding the north would be. They see how difficult it was (and still is!) when Good Germany annexed East Germany, and the disparity in wealth, education, and political systems were all far smaller than South Korea vs. North Korea.

Yes. The ROK has always held that it is the rightful sovereign of the entire Korean peninsula and the north is an illegitimate shadow government. It even has governor's appointed for each of the districts in the north with a full cabinet and legislature for each. Obviously that's a pretty benign job at the moment because sK doesn't have any real power to exert control in the north but those individuals would be expected to jump in and fulfill their role during a reunification. This is a super important point for the pro reunification arms of the sK government because if nK ever does collapse, sK will need political legitimacy to enter the north and try to control it. 

You are correct though that most South Koreans aren't excited about reunification. At this point the close ties of broken families are gone and there is enormous cultural seperation. East and West Germany pale as a comparisons. The ROK government actually commissioned a study on Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. I think the wealth gap difference of north and south Korea was something like 17X larger than the difference of east and west Germany. 

[GrndPndr]

7 hours ago, nsplayr said:

His heart was so full with love for The People that it could no longer sustain his worldly body 😁

Screw that guy, glad if he's dead. Will be interesting to see how stable NK is without a clear heir...I'm sure China is on red alert, a global pandemic is a terrible time for a massive refugee crisis.

Doesn't he have a semi-hot, but angry looking sister (one of the siblings who wasn't assassinated)?  She could be ready to rock and roll!