Sum Yung Sun Rises, in the North
(BBC – bbc.co.uk)
Profile: Kim Jong-un
Kim Jong-il’s third son, Kim Jong-un, will become North Korea’s next leader, according to unconfirmed South Korean media reports. The BBC News website and BBC Monitoring profile this elusive young man.
The only known image of Kim Jong-un shows him as a young boy. Kim Jong-un is youngest son of Kim Jong-il and his late third wife Ko Yong-hui.
Born in 1983 or early 1984, the young Kim was initially not thought to be in the frame to take up his father’s mantle.
Analysts focused their attention on his half-brother Kim Jong-nam and older full brother Kim Jong-chol.
But speculation that he was in the frame to succeed his father picked up in January, after a report in South Korea’s Yonhap news agency suggested that Kim Jong-il had picked him as heir.
North Korea watchers also took his reported appointment to the powerful National Defence Commission as a possible signal that he was being moved into a leadership position.
The defence commission is North Korea’s most important government body, and Kim Jong-il rules the country in his capacity as the commission’s chairman.
Noto bene:
Watch for Kim Jong-il to create a ‘defining moment’ to mark his youngest son’s anticipated ascendancy. It’s quite possible that the DPRK’s current missile and nuclear disputes with the UN Security Council and the IAEA will serve as a backdrop for showcasing the 26-year old Jong-un, whose mother used to call him her “Morning Star King”. Amateur eschatologists will be spinning some yarns about this moniker, which has been used at various times to describe Jesus, Satan or the planet Venus.
Bears watching.So, is it just a coincidence that Venus is presently
such a bright, shining jewel in the pre-dawn sky?
Attempt on Life of Former Iran Prez?
Violence mars Iranian election campaign
By THE MEDIA LINE NEWS AGENCY via the Jerusalem Post
Jun 2, 2009 18:20 | Updated Jun 2, 2009 19:46
Campaign offices of an Iranian presidential candidate were burned down on Monday night, as it was revealed that a former Iranian president narrowly escaped an assassination attempt last week in the run-up to the elections.
One of the intended passengers for a domestic Iranian flight on which a bomb was found on Saturday was former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, the Iranian daily Sarmayeh reported on Monday.
A bomb was discovered on the plane 15 minutes into the flight from the southern Iranian city Ahvaz bound for the capital Teheran. The plane turned back to the airport in Ahwaz, where authorities disarmed the bomb.
It’s probably a safe bet that it will be blamed on
the Ahwazis of Khuzestan. No one has yet claimed
responsibility for the plot — and no one likely will.
Flu: WHO Considers Phase 6
WHO says world moving closer to Phase 6 flu
Tue Jun 2, 2009 12:31pm EDT
GENEVA (Reuters) – The spread of H1N1 flu in Australia, Britain, Chile, Japan and Spain has moved the world closer to the top pandemic alert, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.
“We are at Phase 5 but are getting closer to Phase 6,” Keiji Fukuda, acting WHO assistant director-general, told journalists during a telephone conference.
You might also want to check out our April 29, 2009
posting, “Acute Respiratory Retrospective“ for
a perspective that’s reflective… not simply reflexive.
Originally published February 22, 2006 (in the midst
of rampant avian flu concern) as a look back at the
2003 SARS health scare and explores the likelihood
that it was mostly just a test of our then-current level
of medical emergency preparedness.Could the same be true now?
imahd.ca 