South Korea goes on high alert on news of Kim Jong II’s death in North Korea

December 19, 2011 – NORTH KOREA – North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has died at the age of 69, state-run television has announced. Mr. 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 announcement said. He suffered a stroke in 2008 and was absent from public view for months. His designated successor is believed to be his third son, Kim Jong-woon, who is thought to be in his late 20s. The BBC’s Lucy Williamson in Seoul says Mr. Kim’s death will cause huge shock waves across North Korea. The announcement came in an emotional statement read out on national television. The announcer, wearing black, said he had died of physical and mental over-work. South Korea says its military has been put on alert following the announcement and its National Security Council is convening for an emergency meeting, Yonhap news agency reports. –BBC

North Korea fires test missile: And no sooner did Kim Jong-il pass from the earth than his military practiced the belligerence Kim preached: it test-fired a missile. South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reports that the “short-range” missile was fired into “into the sea off North Korea’s east coast” just hours after the announcement of Kim’s death. No one appears to be hurt, and it seems that the test was planned in advance. But the message is clear enough: North Korea wants the 28,000 U.S. troops on its southern frontier to know that now is not the time to mess with it. The South Koreans are on the same paged. In the hours since Kim died, South Korea beefed up airport security, banned their citizens from travelling north, and stressed “peace and stability” with their northern neighbor. No one wants to provoke the new Pyongyang leadership at a time when its grasp on power might not be absolute, a situation that lends itself to violent miscalculation. The U.S. is monitoring North Korea very closely and is consulting with allies in the region.  –Wired