North Korea's official KCNA news agency on Monday said leader Kim Jong-il died of a sudden heart attack and the cause of death was confirmed in an autopsy, although it remains unclear whether the procedure was actually performed.| Rats, I had my money on acute cirrhosis... |
According to the announcement, Kim "suffered an acute myocardial infarction, complicated by serious cardiogenic shock" and died at 8:30 a.m. despite immediate emergency treatment. His autopsy was performed the following day, it added.
Kim's health had been closely monitored by a medical team that travelled with him on his armored train, and this could have led to rumors of an assassination possibly from poisoning or other methods unless an autopsy revealed that he died of natural causes. Kim Jong-il revealed the results of an autopsy when his father died in 1994, but there were still rumors that he left him to die by delaying emergency treatment.
Experts say Kim Jong-il's son and heir