Defectors joyful at N Korean leader’s death

Seoul - North Koreans who fled Kim Jong-Il's harsh rule for South Korea were jubilant on Tuesday, hailing the news of his death as a rare sign of hope for their starving homeland.

“I'm happier than ever!” Lim Young-Sun, a former army lieutenant who defected in 1993, told AFP a day after the North announced Kim's death.

“All my friends and I were so joyful that we ate and drank until very late yesterday.”

The celebrations among prominent defectors in the South contrasted with scenes on state media of mass mourning in the North for Kim, who died of a heart attack last Saturday at age 69.

“How can we not be happy when the murderer of the century has died? It's funny how Kim, who threatened to kill me, died before I did,” said Park Sang-Hak, a leader of activist group Fighters for Free North Korea.

Park, who takes a leading role in launching anti-regime leaflets across the border, was the target of an assassination plot this year.

A North Korean agent has been arrested on charges of plotting to kill him with poison-tipped weapons in September.

“It's good news for all the defectors, especially after we've been treated so harshly by Kim,” said Jung Gyoung-Il, who heads a group called Democracy Network Against North Korean Gulag.

“All of us are more festive than ever.”

Park and other activists plan Wednesday to float 200 000 leaflets denouncing Kim Jong-Il across the tense border.

More than 21 700 North Koreans have fled the North since the 1950-1953 war, the vast majority in recent years. Most keep a low profile but some campaign actively for democracy and human rights in their former homeland.

Kim Seung-Chul, a former architect who now runs a radio station broadcasting to his previous homeland, said he was “shocked, happy and content” at the news.

“I've heard from insiders in the North that people are not as sad as they appear on the screen and that everything had been orchestrated. That shows there is a possibility of rapid change in North Korea,” Kim said.

The Committee for the Democratisation of North Korea issued a statement welcoming the North Korean leader's death.

But it said his passing should have been more painful and undignified - like the fate suffered by dictators such as Libya's Muammar Gaddafi.

“He shall pay in hell for all the inhumane things he had done to the people,” the statement read.

“December 17 should be the day when democratisation begins in the North and North Koreans regain their rights.”

Some defectors speculated that Kim's youngest son and successor Kim Jong-Un was inadequately prepared for the leadership and will not survive in power, even with the support of the state's propaganda machine.

“He will take the power but he won't last long. The longest will be three years,” said Kim.

“The succession is unstable now, thanks to Kim Jong-Il dying so early. I thought he would live for three or four more years, but now that he's gone the chances are slimmer for Jong-Un,” said Park.

Jung ruled out a successful takeover by the son, who is aged in his late 20s, in what would be North Korea's second dynastic succession after his grandfather, founding president Kim Il-Sung, died in 1994.

“Veteran soldiers in high positions in the government may try to take power. It didn't work when Kim Il-Sung died because Kim Jong-Il had been preparing for over 20 years, but now it is different.” - Sapa-AFP