How do you suppose that will change NK or will another tyrant step up and rule as he did?

Depends on his underlings. What do we know about them?

Personally, I've never seen or heard anything about his subordinates.

All I know is the North Korea's a dreadful place. Hunger and medical care seem to be tools for getting young people to join the military just to have a chance at a better life. Makes me wonder how much of that militaristic enthusiasm is for real. If much of it is just a facade, then I suppose a coup, rebellion, or civil war are possibilities unless someone strong steps forward.

A truly evil man has died today!

His son is probably as sadistic as he is.

I thought he had no children...

Edit: I just read he had three sons. I could have sworn in previous reports I had heard he had no children. Huh. I wonder how I missed that.

YAY...and their is much rejoicing

I know they keep his chidren as quiet as possile since they were over seas in collegeetc. It was ig news a few months ago when he declaired his 3rd son his successor.

The more important question is how will the death of "Lil Kim" effect the over-sized sunglasses industry?

I guess Oblahma will take credit for this too..

Kim Jong-un,'great successor'poised to lead North Korea
Kim Jong-il's death has shifted the world's focus to his likely successor, his youngest son Kim Jong-un.
If the planned succession proceeds without a hitch, the little-known, Swiss-educated Kim will be the leader of a nuclear state wracked by instability.
Reports from North Korea said the country's 24 million people had already begun to rally round Kim Jong-un, who has been the communist state's leader-in-waiting for more than a year.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the country, people and military"must faithfully revere respectable comrade Kim Jong-un. At the leadership of comrade Kim Jong-un, we have to change sadness to strength and courage and overcome today's difficulties."
Little is known about Kim Jong-il's third son, who is believed to be in his late twenties; reports from Pyongyang suggest his ailing father had spent the past year grooming Kim Jong-un, whom the state media are now calling"the great successor"for leadership of the world's most isolated nation by taking him on"field guidance"trips around the country.
The Swiss-educated Kim Jong-un is believed to have accompanied his father on a trip to China in May this year, apparently in an attempt to win support for his succession from Beijing, North Korea's only remaining ally and a major donor of aid.
He is also reported to have travelled to China with his father in August 2010, when Kim senior - known as the"Dear Leader"- is thought to have met Chinese president Hu Jintao and appealed for diplomatic and financial support for his son's succession.
North Korean state media have mentioned Jong-un in glowing terms, amid fears that his succession could meet with resistance from the upper ranks of the powerful Korean People's Army.
It is possible that Kim Jong-un, who lacks the years of political experience his father enjoyed before becoming leader in 1994, will initially act as the figurehead of a regime run by influential members of the ruling party, according to Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean studies in Seoul.
"Chances that the North Korean military is attempting a coup are very low, because North Korea has called itself a nation sharing a common destiny, Kim Jong-un,"he said.
"I think the collective leadership of the party, government and military will go on for a while, because Kim Jong-un is still young."
Yang said South Korea, which has put its military on high alert, would probably attempt to quickly establish a working relationship with the new leadership.
"Now, South Korea urgently needs to think of who in North Korea it has to deal with,"he said."South Korea doesn't want any instability in North Korea, so will probably work to expand its co-operation efforts."
South Korean media have reported that Jang Song-thaek, Kim Jong-il's brother-in-law and a trusted member of his inner circle, had been acting as a mentor to Kim Jong-un in anticipation of a more steady transition of power.
But as it is, Kim senior, who suffered a stroke in 2008 and was reportedly ill with heart disease, died a year short of the centennial of the birth of his father, an event he was to mark by proclaiming his country a successful, modern state and a bona fide nuclear power.
If the handover of power in North Korea, the world's only communist
dynasty , proceeds as envisaged by Kim Jong-il, his son could be about to complete a rapid rise to prominence following his public debut in September last year.
Then, he was awarded the rank of four-star general and made vice-chairman of the ruling Workers'party of Korea central military commission, a move analysts say was designed to place him at the centre of the country's power structure.
If he does become the third member of his family to lead North Korea - his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, founded the state in 1948 - Kim Jong-un will face immediate challenges.
The regime had recently been seeking tens of thousands of tonnes of aid amid reports of serious food shortages this winter; a famine in the 1990s killed an estimated 1 million of North Korea's 23 million people.
He will also face renewed pressure to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programme. Two nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009, sparked strict international sanctions that have placed the leadership under serious financial strain.
Multiparty talks involving the two Koreas, China, the US, Russia and Japan have not been held since Pyongyang walked out of the process in April 2009.
Last year it emerged that North Korea had built a uranium enrichment plant that could give it the ability to drastically strengthen its nuclear capability.
It is known to have enough fissile material from its plutonium-based
programme to make between six and 12 nuclear bombs, but has not proved it has a working nuclear weapon.
Kim Jong-il passed over his first and second sons as potential successors, but there are suggestions that he was never convinced that Kim Jong-un would make a successful leader.
Early this year, his eldest son, Kim Jong-nam, told a Japanese newspaper that his father opposed continuing the family dynasty, but had named his youngest brother heir to maintain stability.
In an interview with the Tokyo Shimbun, Kim Jong-nam said that hereditary succession"does not fit with socialism, and my father was against it as well".
Kim Jong-nam fell out of favour with his father in 2001 after he was caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport, saying he wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
"My understanding is that [succession] was to stabilise the internal system. An unstable North Korea leads to instability in the region,"he said in an interview in a southern Chinese city this month.
In a country that, despite its communist doctrine, retains a Confucian respect for seniority, Kim Jong-un could have expected to give way to his older siblings, but reportedly emerged as his father's favourite after impressing him with his single-mindedness and leadership qualities.
The leader-in-waiting, who shares his father's chubby frame, was educated at a Swiss boarding school, where he is said to have excelled at skiing and basketball, and learned to speak English, German and French.
In a 2003 book, Kenji Fujimoto, a Japanese chef who worked as Kim Jong-il's personal cook before fleeing back to Japan, described Kim Jong-un as"a chip off the old block, a spitting image of his father in terms of face, body shape and personality".
Kim Jong-un's presence at North Korea's biggest-ever military parade, in Pyongyang in October last year, was taken by some to mean that he had been accepted by the leaders of the country's 1.2-million strong army.
Kim Yong-hyun, an expert on North Korea at Seoul's Fdongguk University, said at the time."The parade served as a sign that the military has loyalty to the successor."
It remains to be seen how the North Korean establishment and the country's impoverished people react to his possible accession. In leaked US embassy cables published by WikiLeaks last November, South Korean analysts warned the assistant secretary of state, Kurt Campbell, of possible instability arising from a botched succession.
"Of the five experts, one thought the younger Kim might succeed and one argued his lack of leadership experience made it unlikely he would win the support of the ruling elites,"the cables said.
They continued:"They agreed that Kim Jong-il's brother-in-law Jang Song-taek would prove a strong rival for the younger Kim and would probably be tempted to challenge him. Kim Jong-il had used draconian controls and international aid to discourage coups after having foiled three such attempts in the late 90s."
The cables referred to doubts about Kim Jong-un's ability to fend off challenges to his leadership in the event of his father's death. The experts noted that the younger Kim"had very little experience and might not get much direct guidance before Kim Jong-il dies".
His father's sudden death, reportedly of heart failure while travelling by train on Saturday morning, has lent even more weight to doubts about his ability to quickly fill his father's shoes.
http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gnm/op/s1E4fl_lAJvf9CuuCukyCgg/view.m?id=15&gid=world/2011/dec/19/kim-jong-un-north-korea-leader&cat=world

My heart just breaks for those people. I truly pray that there are good men there who are strong enough to step up and take over. But, after what that country has been through....I doubt it.

The have already fired off two short range missles and the American and Korean troops on the boarder of South Korea as well as all Law Enforcement of South Korea has been put on high alert.

They think he is going to show some display of power to show that he is in control.

Actually, what he is doing is displaying that N. Korea has power and isnt weak despite the death of his father in warning to others that he will protect his borders. Not an unusual display in societies ruled my generations of family and countries passed to relatives of the emperor king or soviergn entity.

The report I heard last night was 24 million people are not in poverty--they are in startvation poverty. What a tragedy. If China ignored NK, they would be in a box and would be forced to reach out to the international community--meaning give up the nukes for food. The report also highlighted the work prisons(all 6-7 from satellite pics)scattered around. They are supposedly worse than China.

Images showed that in the streets of Pyongyang many people wept over the death of Kim Jong-il. People could be seen gathering to pay their respects, some people kneeling, some wailing, and some beating the ground with their fists. However, reports stated that this mourning was staged or even forced.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_funeral_of_Kim_Jong-il

Australia – Called on governments, including North Korea’s, for 'calm and restraint' in the aftermath of Kim Jong Il's death, also urging the DPRK to 'engage with the global community.'[12] Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said "It is at times like this that we cannot afford to have any wrong or ambiguous signaling. This time also presents an important opportunity to the new North Korean leadership to engage fully with the international community. On how to improve their economy in order to properly feed their people and critically on how to deal with the outstanding problem of North Korea's nuclear weapons programme."

Canada - Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, "Kim Jong-il will be remembered as the leader of a totalitarian regime who violated the basic rights of the North Korean people for nearly two decades. We hope his passing brings positive change allowing the people of North Korea to emerge from six decades of isolation, oppression and misery. ... At this critical juncture, we urge North Korea to close this sad chapter in its history and to work once more towards promoting both the well-being of its people and stability on the Korean peninsula.”

France – The Foreign Ministry released that France "reaffirms its commitment to peace and stability in the peninsula and hopes the North Korean regime will evolve in a positive way. ... Our thoughts go to North Korean people who have been suffering for years from misery and lack of human rights. ... France will carry on its action for North Korean people, especially by supporting humanitarian programs ..." Also, Alain Juppé, the French Foreign Minister, is quoted as having said, "There isn't much hope. It is a completely closed off regime ... We are very cautious about the consequences of this succession. We hope that one day the North Korean people will find freedom. There are ongoing talks with North Korea ... and we need to keep on talking with China and other participants to make North Korea abandon its nuclear weapon."

Germany – Foreign Minister ***** Westerwelle said, "We hope that a window of opportunity will open for the people of North Korea,"[9] Also Foreign Ministry spokeman Dirk Augustin told journalists: "This is of course a chance for things to change there but our expectations remain the same: that North Korea gives up its nuclear programme, that the catastrophic social situation of its own people improves and that it declares itself ready to open up in the political and economic spheres. Whoever takes over power must assume responsibility for improving the desperate situation of the people there. There is a clearly untenable situation with two Korean states."

Japan – Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda held an emergency national security council with top Cabinet members soon after hearing the news. Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told journalists in Tokyo Prime Minister instructed them to be best prepared in case of any unexpected development. Fujimura expressed condolences and said Japan hoped Kim's death would not affect the region adversely. Chief government spokesman Osamu Fujimura said "We express our condolences on the news of the passing Kim Jong Il, the chairman of the National Defense Commission of North Korea. We wish the sudden news would not affect North Korea negatively."

Poland – "Poland is closely monitoring the situation in North Korea after the death of Kim Jong-il", says a statement by the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw. Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, "hopes that after the death of the North Korean leader, authorities will act responsibly and in accordance with the expectations of the international community and the Korean nation,” the statement says.

Sweden – Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on his Twitter account that "The death of a dictator is always a period of uncertainty for a dictatorship, and North Korea is the hardest dictatorship in our time".

Republic of China (Taiwan) – President Ma Ying-jeou of the ROC said “While Taiwan is located a bit farther from North Korea than either South Korea or Japan, we attach great importance to the possible impact of Kim’s death and will carefully deal with all relevant issues.” Ma said during a press conference and the National Security Council had invited defense, foreign, security, economic and Mainland Affairs Council officials to a session to discuss the possible impact of Kim’s death.

United Kingdom – Foreign Secretary William Hague said "The people of N Korea are in official mourning after the death of Kim Jong Il. We understand this is a difficult time for them. This could be a turning point for North Korea. We hope that their new leadership will recognise that engagement with the international community offers the best prospect of improving the lives of ordinary North Korean people. We encourage North Korea to work for peace and security in the region and take the steps necessary to allow the resumption of the Six Party Talks on denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula."

United States – White House spokesman Jay Carney said "The President has been notified and we are in close touch with our allies in South Korea and Japan," and "We remain committed to stability on the Korean peninsula and to the freedom and security of our allies." Don Manzullo, chairman of the subcommittee on East Asia in the House of Representatives, the lower house of the United States Congress, said "Kim Jong-Il was the epitome of evil, a dictator of the worst kind who ruled his country with an iron fist and dished out constant pain and misery to his people. We hope his passing will mark a new chapter for North Korea. This is an opportunity for North Korea to emerge from its cycle of oppression and walk down a new path toward democracy."

European Union – Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said that "The EU is monitoring the situation closely and is in contact with its strategic partners with a view to sharing assessments on the possible implications."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_funeral_of_Kim_Jong-il

Not many people inside or outside North Korea are mourning this tyrants death.