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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Kim Jong Il


North Korea displayed the body of ruler Kim Jong Il in a glass coffin surrounded by red flowers Tuesday, and his young heir was one of the first to pay respects, a strong indication that a smooth leadership transition was under way. As the country mourned for a second day with high-level visits to Kim’s body at a memorial palace and public gatherings of weeping citizens, state media fed a budding personality cult around his youngest known son and anointed heir, Kim Jong Un, hailing him as a ”lighthouse of hope.” AP video footage shot in the capital, Pyongyang, showed the glass coffin holding Kim’s body, wrapped in red cloth and surrounded by blossoms of his namesake flowers, red ”kimjongilia.” As solemn music played, Kim Jong Un. believed to be in his late 20s, entered the hall to view his father’s bier, surrounded by military honor guards. He observed a moment of solemn silence, then circled the bier, followed by other officials. Outside one of the capital’s main performance centers, mourners carried wreaths and flowers toward a portrait of Kim Jong Il. Groups were allowed to grieve in front of the portrait for a few minutes at a time. ”We will change today’s sorrow into strength and courage and work harder for a powerful and prosperous nation, as our general wanted, under the leadership of the new General Kim Jong Un,” U Son Hui, a Pyongyang resident, told The Associated Press. The announcement Monday of Kim’s death over the weekend raised acute concerns in the region over the possibility of a power struggle between the untested son and rivals, in a country pursuing nuclear weapons and known for its unpredictability and secrecy. But there have been no signs of unrest or discord in Pyongyang’s somber streets. With the country in an 11-day period of official mourning, flags were flown at half-staff at all military units, factories, businesses, farms and public buildings. The streets of Pyongyang were quiet, but throngs of people gathered at landmarks honoring Kim. The AP footage showed Kim’s bier decorated by a wreath from Kim Jong Un along with various medals and orders. The body was laid out in the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, a mausoleum where the embalmed body of Kim’s father, national founder Kim Il Sung, has been on display in a glass sarcophagus since his death in 1994. Kim Jong Il died of a massive heart attack on Saturday caused by overwork and stress, according to the North’s media. He was 69, though some experts question the official accounts of his birth date and location. The two-day state funeral is to begin at the Kamsusan Memorial Palace on Dec. 28. North Korean officials say they will not invite foreign delegations and will allow no entertainment during the mourning period. Since Kim’s death the media have stepped up their lavish praise of the son, indicating an effort to strengthen a cult of personality around him similar to that of his father and, much more strongly, of Kim Il Sung. The Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday described Kim Jong Un as ”a great person born of heaven,” a propaganda term previously used only for his father and grandfather. The Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the ruling Workers’ Party, added in an editorial that Kim Jong Un is ”the spiritual pillar and the lighthouse of hope” for the military and the people.It described the twenty-something Kim as ”born of Mount Paektu,” one of Korea’s most cherished sites and Kim Jong Il’s official birthplace. On Monday, the North said in a dispatch that the people and the military ”have pledged to uphold the leadership of comrade Kim Jong Un” and called him a ”great successor” of the country’s revolutionary philosophy of juche, or self reliance. Kim’s death could set back efforts by the United States and others to get Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions. Concerns are also high that Kim Jong Un, being young and largely untested, may feel he needs to prove himself by precipitating a crisis or displaying his swagger on the international stage.

Baiden says Taliban not US enemy


The United States has said that Taliban are not enemy of the U.S, a move seen as the latest effort of the Obama administration to send an olive branch to the terrorist outfit that ruled Afghanistan before 9/11, media reported on Tuesday. "Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That s critical," US Vice-President Joe Biden said in an interview to the Newsweek magazine. "There is not a single statement that the (US) President has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy because it threatens US interests," he said. If, in fact, the Taliban is able to collapse the existing government, which is cooperating with us in keeping the bad guys from being able to do damage to us, then that becomes a problem for us. So there s a dual track here, Biden added. "One, continue to keep the pressure on al-Qaida and continue to diminish them. Two, put the government in a position where they can be strong enough that they can negotiate with and not be overthrown by the Taliban," he said. "And at the same time try to get the Taliban to move in the direction to see to it that they, through reconciliation, commit not to be engaged with al-Qaida or any other organization that they would harbor to do damage to us and our allies," Biden said. White House press secretary Jay Carney, supporting Biden s statement, said the Vice-President does not regret having said this. "We didn t invade Afghanistan. We did not send US military personnel into Afghanistan because the Taliban were in power. They had been in power. We went into Afghanistan because al-Qaida had launched an attack against the US from Afghanistan," he said.