Generalissimo Kim Jong Il Is Still Not Dead

If there really was a special announcement played for the diplomats and shadowy “trading company” officials at North Korea’s embassies and consulates yesterday, it may have been about sign-ups for intramural softball or the results of the fantasy football pool.   We did learn that the  Great General offered this on-the-spot guidance, which, for once, I wholly endorse: “get a haircut, hippie!”   Like so many recent reports from North Korea of late, however,  the latest ones  fall sadly short of our expectations.

For whatever reason, October 20th came and went, and Gotterdammerung was not declared.  You may have been hoping that North Korea’s best-marbled slab of meat had cooled to  40 degrees  at last, but if that’s so, we are still denied the pleasure of knowing it. 

South Korea’s ministry responsible for ties with the North said on Monday no unusual activity was observed in North Korea on the day media said Pyongyang might make an important announcement.

A source based in Beijing with access to North Korean officials rejected speculation about the health of leader Kim Jong Il, thought to have suffered a stroke in August, saying he was firmly in control of the reclusive state.

[….]

“We have nothing to confirm regarding chairman Kim Jong-il’s health,” Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon told a news briefing.

“All of the North’s domestic broadcasts, its international events and domestic events are being conducted normally.”  [Reuters]

The AP reports that there’s still nothing out of the ordinary at any of North Korea’s time portals to Earth.  So what passes for normal life in North Korea goes on, except for those for whom it does not.

All those people  dying in North Korea and this oxygen thief can’t be  just  one of them.