Kim Jong-il has died

Agreed. But there is very little to be hopeful about: North Korea has survived for many years by threatening violence and chaos to put a meager amount of food on its table. Its neighbours (and the international community) are about as afraid of the fallout from its collapse as they are the threats it puts forward. However, we are soon approaching a time when the global economc crisis will result in no one meeting its demands.

Couple that with a twenty year old playboy leader who's been fed his grandfather's crackpottery from the womb onwards, and there's no way this will end well.

For those who do not know much about the brutality of north korean life, there are several google videos of real life inside north korea. Be warned, though: they aren't graphic, but there isn't much on the internet that is as disturbing.