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SEOUL - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died on a train trip, state television reported on Monday, sparking immediate concern over who is in control of the reclusive state and its nuclear programme.
A tearful announcer dressed in black said the 69-year old had died on Saturday of physical and mental over-work on his way to give "field guidance."
He had suffered a stroke in 2008, but appeared to have recovered.
Market players and regional powers will be on edge over what might happen next in the isolated state, whose collapsing economy and bid to become a nuclear weapons power pose major threats to northeast Asia.
South Korea placed its military on emergency alert, the South's Yonhap news agency reported.
Kim Jong-un, the senior Kim Jong-il's youngest son, is seen as the leader-in-waiting after he was appointed to senior political and military posts in 2010.
But there will be enormous questions over how much credibility the younger Kim has, given he is only in his late 20s and has had little time to prepare for the role.
Kim Jong-il's sister and her husband have also been promoted to important political and military posts, creating a powerful triumvirate ready to take over the family dynasty that has ruled North Korea since its founding after World War Two.
Experts say Jong-un has the intelligence and leadership skills that would make him suitable to succeed his father. He is also reported to have a ruthless streak that analysts say he would need to rule the country.
There is likely to be an enormous outpouring of emotion over Kim's death in North Korea, where the country's propaganda machine turned him into a demi-god.
Kim was the unchallenged head of a communist state whose economy fell deep into poverty during his 17 years in power as he vexed the world by developing a nuclear arms programme and missiles aimed at neighbours Japan and South Korea.
North Korea, which tested a nuclear device in 2006 and again in May 2009, is seen as one of the greatest threats to regional security.
In 2010, the secretive North unveiled a uranium enrichment facility, giving it a second route to make an atomic bomb along with its plutonium programme.
The North has repeatedly threatened to destroy the conservative government of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who ended a decade of free-flowing aid to the North after taking office in February 2008.
Known at home as "the Dear Leader," Kim took over the reins of North Korea in 1994 when his father and founder of the reclusive state, Kim Il-sung, known as the Great Leader, died.
Tensions between the two Koreas spiked to their highest level in nearly two decades in 2010 when 50 South Koreans were killed in two separate attacks on the peninsula, but relations have improved this year due to pressure from Beijing and Washington.
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