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Kim Jong Il Dead: William Hague Leads Political Reaction After North Korean Leader Dies

Huffington Post UK   First Posted: 19/12/11 11:09 GMT Updated: 19/12/11 15:47 GMT

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William Hague has said the death of Kim Jong Il could be a "turning point" for nuclear state North Korea, in a statement on Monday.

The foreign secretary was the first British political leader to react to the death of the dictator.

Following the news, Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda was reported to have set up a crisis management team and South Korean military was on high alert.

See our slideshow below for political reaction to Jong Il's death as it comes in.

Hague: This could be a turning point for North Korea
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"The people of N Korea are in official mourning after the death of Kim Jong Il. We understand this is a difficult time for them.

"This could be a turning point for North Korea. We hope that their new leadership will recognise that engagement with the international community offers the best prospect of improving the lives of ordinary North Korean people.

"We encourage North Korea to work for peace and security in the region and take the steps necessary to allow the resumption of the Six Party Talks on denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula".
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William Hague has said the death of Kim Jong Il could be a "turning point" for nuclear state North Korea, in a statement on Monday. The foreign secretary was the first British political leader to r...
William Hague has said the death of Kim Jong Il could be a "turning point" for nuclear state North Korea, in a statement on Monday. The foreign secretary was the first British political leader to r...
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Daniel Wagner

Daniel Wagner: What Next for North Korea?

It would be nice to believe that young Mr. Kim would somehow transform his youth, access to information about the world, and brief orientation to the west into something that will end the enslavement of his people, but this will not happen.

 
 
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Sickofpoliticians2
243 Fans
03:27 PM on 12/20/2011
Turning point, give up nuclear weapons and be taken over by one of these cretins who see some valuable commodity not yet exploited, slaves perhaps or another strategic place for missiles, to protect the oily interests in S. China seas, our leaders never cease to amaze me.
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pkotka
7 Fans
07:02 PM on 12/19/2011
Hapless Hague the real mouth of B.S what the hell dose he do engage mouth and leave mouth in neutral??? never been a diplomat never mind a minister what this dope can not understand that being the leader of N Korea the business is a family affair and no amount of what the west will do will change what they will do or think on the political scene get wise Hague this is the 3rd generation of dictator brought up in that life style nothing has changed just the name one replaces the next grow up Hague and smell the roses .
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Johnny-64
15 Fans
06:51 PM on 12/19/2011
At last! Some good news.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
mbrahms26
383 Fans
05:54 PM on 12/19/2011
Outwardly crying. Inwardly. singing "Ding, dong, Kim Jong is dead...."
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triciakattisback
33 Fans
09:04 PM on 12/19/2011
Faved and Fanned.
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bowiealis
16 Fans
05:54 PM on 12/19/2011
The family are and always have been Dictators so the Grief is obviously Faked to fool the rest of the World
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vermithrax
31 Fans
05:26 PM on 12/19/2011
From the films of the grieving masses I get the distinct feeling that what is behind the camera is a row of soldiers with machine guns levelled at the poor mourners and a banner saying cry or die. Its like a massive scale version of the film the village where everyone believes that they live surrounded by monsters so never try to leave, its amazing how 23 million people can be so cut off from the world and brainwashed. At least they never have a problem with spam e-mails, texts and cold callers.
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duster123
0 Fans
04:53 PM on 12/19/2011
A sad reflection of a brainwashed oppressed society!
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ttown211
0 Fans
05:35 PM on 12/19/2011
Agreed! My thoughts exactly!
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angelusan
150 Fans
 
04:33 PM on 12/19/2011
The only interest that this government or most of the west for that matter have in North Korea, is as a fertile new ground - possibly the last - in which to bestow the 'benefits' of uber-capitalism.

In otherwords simply replace one form of oppression and misery with another.

The world has spent much of the past 100 years lurching from one form of fascism to another with only brief respites somewhere in the middle. And look at the mess that it has caused.
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eewe
0 Fans
03:59 PM on 12/19/2011
Good to see Hague leading yet again, as he did with sanctioning SAS invasion of Libya. Can we expect him and Dave to start bombing North Korea to rescue the people from oppression / starvation ,along with sorting out Somali / Zimbabwe and Syria. Has their belief in leading from the front, and the belief that they should act as examples of how a country should interfere with the behaviour of others been reduced to mere words. Have not noticed their previous invasions/bombing campaigns encouraging other countries , China/Russia who could stop the oppression making any moves to do so. Is it because no one has told William or Dave that we have not got an empire any more and only a very small conventional defensive capability ? Should we send William to North Korea so he can repeat his words face to face with the Korean dictatorship?
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vinniedog
65 Fans
04:53 PM on 12/19/2011
no oil , no involvement, unless camerons got a taste for war
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ttown211
0 Fans
05:37 PM on 12/19/2011
Why the hell is gas so expensive if the UK or USA got any out of it for the War?
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kwb948
14 Fans
03:02 PM on 12/19/2011
That was a scene from carefully choreographed North Korean show dance of the TV show, "Strictly Come Grieving" from the same production company that gave us 'Everyway is Pyongyang" why are not a top tourist spot?
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vladtheemployer
19 Fans
02:59 PM on 12/19/2011
the citizens of North Korea have to pretend they are devastated at the news, or they will be sent to a camp for "re-education".
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Norman Mitchison
92 Fans
 
02:35 PM on 12/19/2011
Is Tony Blair on the way to sort it out with his advisor,G.Bush, one wonders.
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lezerley
0 Fans
02:33 PM on 12/19/2011
All those devestated people, but not a tear in sight.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
cynic123
70 Fans
02:16 PM on 12/19/2011
Could you see the people of Britain crying like that over the dath of one of our leaders?? He must of been good to his people but all we read is that he was a bad man. Maybe he was not corupt enough for our westewrn leaders and they could not deal with a straight talker.
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angelusan
150 Fans
 
04:27 PM on 12/19/2011
If our own dictator died I can see alot of people with tears of joy. Or simply laughing. And I mean alot.
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vinniedog
65 Fans
04:52 PM on 12/19/2011
she wont be long , will she???
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Neomodus
0 Fans
01:32 PM on 12/19/2011
hear he was il
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triciakattisback
33 Fans
09:06 PM on 12/19/2011
Obviously,he's dead. LMAO
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