Seoul: Kim Jong II, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic leader, has died. He was 69. Kim's death was announced on Monday by state television from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.
Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008 but appeared relatively vigorous in photos and video from recent trips to China and Russia and in numerous trips around the country carefully documented by state media.
The leader, reputed to have had a taste for cigars, cognac and gourmet cuisine, was believed to have had diabetes and heart disease.
The news came as North Korea prepared for a hereditary succession. Kim Jong II inherited power after his father, revered North Korean founder Kim II Sung, died in 1994.
In September 2010, Kim Jong II unveiled his third son, the twenty-something Kim Jong Un, as his successor, putting him in high-ranking posts.
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