Kim Jong-il, the 69 year old leader of the reclusive North Korea, and known back in the country as “the Dear leader” has died according to media reports, citing North Korean state television, KCNA news agency, as a source.
His youngest son of three, Kim Jong-un is said to be his successor after the leader recovered from a reported stroke in 2008 and has since appointed Jong-un as a general last year among many other high profile roles in politics.
During the time the leader of the “hermit state”, Kim Jong-il was in power, the country’s economy slipped further and further into deep poverty. Due to the restrictive nature of entering or photographing within North Korea, there is only a small selection of Western and non-state released pictures of the reclusive state, which includes this slideshow from the UK’s BBC around 6 years ago.
The second picture in that slideshow shows an eerie picture of an enormous highway, but is in fact empty as most people are too poor to afford food from state-owned “department stores or shops” let alone cars. Most of the BBC analysis on this slideshow is fraught with caveats of possibly state engineered scenarios.
The North Korean propaganda machine portrayed him firstly as a:
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Stories released by the state, even the seemingly trivial, all sought to deify him, which even included the majestic claim that:
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Not forgetting one of the most important elements to North Korea’s role on the world stage, is the approach to the nuclear arms programme. Analysts say the country’s “abject poverty” is due to all state money being “funnelled into nuclear arms developments”, which has led former U.S. President George W. Bush to dub Kim Jong Il as the ruler of "an outpost of tyranny."
With his death, there has been a negative effect on the Asian markets as a whole and not just the South Korean bourse.
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Also, immediately after Kim Jong Il’s death was announced, the Won fell 1% against the US Dollar.
The news will no doubt shake the markets in the short term, but also make a significant impact to political and financial risk and analysis of the “hermit state.”
On 7th December, one of the global markets most distinguished political analysts Alastair Newton, who has also travelled and stayed in North Korea, released one of his reports from his “Issues Which Keep Me Awake At Night” series:
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Moreover, he also points out that the following points individually, let alone collectively, these events stand to encourage leaders to play to domestic audiences at the risk of increased international tensions:
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Don’t forget to check out Euromoney later this week for more updates on the market and economic impact.
- Euromoney Skew Blog