Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s dictator, has died, piling pressure on his inexperienced son to ensure the stability of his impoverished, nuclear-armed state, the FT reports. A North Korean television newscaster, clad in black, announced on Monday that the 70-year-old had died of a heart attack, caused by overwork, while travelling by train on Saturday. South Korea put its military on an emergency footing in case North Korea started to show immediate signs of disintegration, but added it had so far not observed any unusual military activity north of the border. In Washington, the White House said it was “closely monitoring reports that Kim Jong-il is dead”. South Korean officials have consistently identified the death of Kim Jong-il as one of the events that could accelerate the unification of the peninsula that has been divided since 1945. In Japan, Yoshihiko Noda, prime minister, canceled a planned speech and returned to the premier’s residence to confer with advisers. According to a report by Bloomberg, North Korean officials had stated that there was support from the people and military for successor Kim Jong Un, the little-known third son of Kim Jong-il. As of 3:25pm in Seoul, the Kospi index was down 3.4 per cent. However, South Korean markets often regard unexpected news from the North as a buying opportunity. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was down 1.3 per cent and South Korea’s won lost 1.4 per cent in value against the US dollar.