Kim Jong-Il's Death (A Hoax Sample)

Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

CommentGo Back

Download

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is confirmed dead

By James Duquesne, Associated Press Writer

Hwang Song Baek, spokesman of the North Korean government, has confirmed today (7/9) inresponse to the allegations that Kim Jong-il has passed away. However, he declined to commentfurther on where the ‘Dear Leader’ Kim has been interred or what illness did he die of.An allegation of Kim’s death firstly surfaced in the August 2008 issue of the Japanese magazineShukan Gendai by Toshimitsu Shigemura, a veteran Japanese expert on North Korea in WasedaUniversity. He argued that his role is played by a political decoy, and the real Kim had died of diabetes in 2003 and world leaders including Vladimir Putin of Russia and Hu Jintao of Chinahave been negotiating with an impostor.The regime had groomed up to four lookalikes to act as substitutes at public events. Oneunderwent plastic surgery to make his appearance more convincing. Since that death, the actorsare brought on stage whenever required to persuade the masses that Kim is alive.There have been persistent reports that a stand-in appears for Kim at military parades and he isnotoriously reclusive. He did not appear in public to receive the Olympic torch in Pyongyang on28 April.Shigemura traced Kim’s supposed demise to autumn 2003 when he vanished for about 42 days.Most analysts put this down to mourning for one of his wives, a power struggle inside the Kimdynasty or fear of an American strike.Kim’s poor health has been the subject of speculation for decades. The professor’s contributionis to cite Russian and Chinese sources saying he had diabetes and illnesses of the heart, liver andlungs, with depression thrown in.That particular issue caught international attention by shock. Shigemura’s article was firstlytranslated into Mandarin and French before being translated into 20 other languages. It evensparked an urban legend online that his funeral was held in attendance of 80,000 Pyongyangcitizens in full drape of secrecy.

International reaction

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has expressed “the whole Chinese people was deeply saddened bythe demise of the Dear Leader of North Korea and hoped that this would not affect bilateralrelations between both countries”.The Sarkozy administration in France has also stated that “this is a sign that North Korea mayhave a possibility to advance towards a better future” while the US Secretary of StateCondoleeza Rice was quoted as saying that “the time is ripe for a democracy in Pyongyang”.

of 00

Leave a Comment