China, North Korea's closest ally on Monday expressed shock over the death of its dictator Kim Jong Il as Beijing braced to back his youngest son, Kim Jong Un as the next leader.
Indications of this came when Kim Jong Il skipped the parade commemorating the 60th anniversary of the foundation of North Korea on September 9. However, North Korean officials were quick to dismiss speculations about Kim Jong's health as baseless rumours spread by the West.
Disputing circumstances of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's death, South Korean intelligence has said that the leader did not travel by train the day he died.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has died at the age of 69, state-run television has announced. Kim, who has led the communist nation since the death of his father in 1994, died on a train while visiting an area outside the capital, the BBC reports.
Though President Barack Obama is yet to voice America's approach to the new North Korean "Respected Comrade", top United States lawmakers have wished his father, the late Kim Jong Il, "a warm corner in hell", alongside the likes of Muammar Gaddafi, Osama bin Laden, Hitler and Stalin.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in the Democratic People''s Republic of Korea (DPRK) for talks with top leader Kim Jong-il Sunday and said that he would pushing for the creation of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.
North Korea's dictator Kim Jong-il is seriously ill and may only have a few months to live, a British newspaper reported, quoting a source within the family of the reclusive "Dear Leader" as saying. "He does not have all that much longer to live and my sources say the doctors' diagnosis is that he will die before the end of the year," Prof Toshimitsu Shigemura, an expert on North Korea at Waseda University, told The Daily Telegraph.
Led by United States President Barack Obama, top American officials have reached out to key global leaders, including Japan, China, Russia and South Korea for stability of Korean Peninsula following the death of North Korea leader, Kim Jong-il. Obama himself called the South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, on Monday night during which he reaffirmed the US' commitment to the stability of the Korean Peninsula.
Rediff.com takes a look at the dictatorial journey of the Kims 'The Great Leader' and 'Dear Leader', and what little is known about the 'great successor'.
Till 2009, his name had never figured even in rumours as a possible successor to North Korea's Kim Jong-il. And today after his father's death the 28-year-old Kim Jong-Un has been dubbed as the 'great successor' leaving all of Asia and United States anxious.
Accompanied by arms industry and military officials, Kim plans to offer the embattled Russian president weapons for the war in Ukraine in exchange for food, technology and cash.
In their first summit since Chinese President Hu Jintao assumed power last year, the two leaders discussed the nuclear crisis and Chinese aid for North Korea.
New images show the portly North Korean dictator looking more overweight than ever as he offers "field guidance" on a state farm.
Stepping up efforts to ensure trouble-free transition of power in North Korea following the death of its close ally Kim Jong Il, China on Tuesday launched telephone diplomacy to highlight the need for maintaining peace and stability in the Stalinist state.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's youngest son, Kim Jong-un, has been promoted as a military general, the clearest sign yet that he is in line to succeed his father as the country's leader.
'North Korea could choose to go China's way by selectively opening up the economy, but Kim does not seem enthused by the idea.' 'Getting Pyongyang to give up the nuclear programme may be the best outcome Trump can hope for at the moment,' says Vikram Johri.
These pictures offer a glimpse in the life of ordinary North Koreans as they prepare for the event.
'What if Kim is alive as the latest reappearance suggests, but unable to rule?' 'Will his sister be installed as the leader to continue with the Kims's hereditary dynasty that began with the present ruler's grandfather?' asks Dr Rajaram Panda.
Presenting some of the best PHOTOGRAPHS from around the globe in the last 48 hours
The birthday of Kim Jong-Un, the dictator of North Korea, was celebrated by airing a documentary on the country's "supreme leader" on state television.
The trip was the highest level meeting with a North Korean leader since 2000 when then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met Kim Jong-il, the father of the current leader, in Pyongyang.
Though the name of Kim Jong-Un was absent from a list of 687 Supreme People's Assembly deputies elected in 2009, the 27-year-old was appointed to Parliament under the pseudonym of "Kim Jong", Dong-A Ilbo newspaper quoted a Western source informed in North Korean affairs as saying.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il apologized to Chinese envoy Tang Jiaxuan for the difficult position it had placed Beijing with its first nuclear test.
Kim's absences from official state media often spark speculation and rumors about his health.
Their reign has often been questioned and criticised, with many of them being accused of human rights violation.
Not much is known about his personal life -- apart from snatches of information about his love for films, cognac and women.
He was heard about, revered and feared in equal measure, but the ruler of the world's most secretive regime was rarely seen in public. Kim Jong-il, who led the communist nation since the death of his father in 1994, died on a train while visiting an area outside Pyongyang, the capital.
2011, hopefully, will be remembered as the year that marked the beginning of the end of the world's worst dictators.
Would any former prime minister have travelled to a rogue country to negotiate for the freedom of just two of its imprisoned citizens?
"President Clinton has safely left North Korea with Laura Ling and Euna Lee," said Matt McKenna, spokesman for Bill Clinton. Clinton apologised to Kim Jong-Il for the behaviour of the two women journalists after which they were released, North Korea media reported.
This was Kim's first visit abroad as North Korea's leader and came ahead of his planned summit with Donald J Trump.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, whose rags-to-riches story is cited as case study across the world, will be the chief guest at the 60th Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi.
China, which has a formal, mutual defence alliance with North Korea, is apprehensive about the stability of Kim Jong-il's regime. The Asian giant is planning to send troops to North Korea in case the nuclear arsenal falls into the wrong hands due to political instability, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.
CNN cameras go inside the secretive nation to places few outsiders have ever seen.
Using an anti-aircraft gun in front of hundreds of people in Pyongyang
This is Kim's first overseas visit since he took over power in 2011 after his father's death.
Why did Kim Jong-un order his brother's murder?
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