Kim Jong Il, supreme leader of North Korea, died Saturday of an apparent heart attack during a train ride, state television reported Monday. He was 69, according to official sources. Kim, known in his homeland as 'The Lodestar of the 21st Century' and by more than 2,000 other titles, is reported to have had a history of serious ailments, including diabetes, stroke and pancreatic cancer. He may have been on dialysis at the time of his death. In North Korea, he was considered a 'contemporary god.â'
Kim formally assumed power over the Democratic Peopleâ??s Republic of Korea, as North Korea is formally known, in October 1997 by becoming General Secretary of the Korean Workersâ?? Party. His elevation to supreme leader, a little over three years after the death of father Kim Il Sung, was the first dynastic transfer of power in a communist-bloc state. The younger Kim also ruled the nation as Chairman of the National Defense Commission, the highest state institution in North Korea. His father, whose embalmed body is on display in Pyongyang, remains the country's president.
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