N Korean leader Kim Jong-Il dies

---

SEOUL, Dec 19, (agencies): North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has died aged 69 of a heart attack, state media announced Monday, plunging the impoverished but nuclear-armed nation into uncertainty as it faced a second dynastic succession. The leader "passed away from a great mental and physical strain" at 8:30 am on Saturday (2330 GMT Friday), while travelling by train on one of his field tours, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. He suffered a stroke in 2008 and was absent from public view for months. Pyongyang described his son Kim Jong-un as the "great successor" and urged North Koreans to unite behind him. "All party members, military men and the public should faithfully follow the leadership of comrade Kim Jong-un and protect and further strengthen the unified front of the party, military and the public," North Korea's state-run news agency, KCNA, said. Kim Jong-un, who is thought to be in his late 20s, was named as his father's successor just over a year ago. A funeral for Kim Jong-il will be held in the capital Pyongyang on 28 December and Kim Jong-un will head the funeral committee, KCNA reports. A period of national mourning has been declared from 17 to 29 December. The announcement of his death came in an emotional statement read out on national television. The announcer, wearing black, wept as she said he had died of physical and mental over-work. A later report from KCNA said Mr Kim had had a heart attack. China - North Korea's closest ally and biggest trading partner - said it was "distressed" to hear the news of his death. "We express our grief about this and extend our condolences to the people of North Korea," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying. Amid concern that the news could lead to instability in the impoverished, nuclear-armed nation with few allies, South Korea's military was put on alert. Its National Security Council is convening an emergency meeting, Yonhap news agency reports. Mr Kim inherited the leadership of North Korea - which remains technically at war with South Korea - from his father Kim Il-sung. Shortly after he came to power, a severe famine caused by ill-judged economic reforms and poor harvests left an estimated two million people dead. His regime has been harshly criticised for human rights abuses and is internationally isolated because of its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Lee urges S Koreans to stay calm South Korea ordered its military on alert but urged people to stay calm following Monday's shock announcement of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. "President Lee (Myung-Bak) urged the public to go about their usual economic activities without turbulence," a senior presidential official told a televised news conference. "The peace and stability of the Korean peninsula should not be threatened because of this crisis," Lee told an emergency cabinet meeting, according to his spokesman, calling for close cooperation with the international community. Lee had a phone conversation with US President Barack Obama about two hours after Kim's death was announced by the North's state media at noon (0300 GMT). US, South Korea close ranks after Kim death The United States swiftly closed ranks with its ally South Korea Monday as the death of nuclear-armed North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Il landed President Barack Obama with a sudden foreign policy crisis. Obama called his close friend President Lee Myung-Bak of South Korea at midnight on the US east coast as Washington and its regional allies digested the death of the Stalinist state's volatile 69-year-old leader. Japan calls emergency security meeting Japan gathered senior ministers Monday to discuss security concerns in the wake of the death of Kim Jong-Il as the government offered rare "condolences" on the passing of a much-reviled man. Minutes after the noon broadcast by Pyongyang's official media, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda cancelled a speech and rushed back to his office where he chaired an emergency security meeting.