DPRK leader plagued by health problems
By Cui Jia | China Daily | Updated: 2011-12-20 08:09
BEIJING - Kim Jong-il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), chairman of the DPRK National Defense Commission and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, died at the age of 69 "from a great mental and physical strain" at 8:30 am on Saturday on a train, the official KCNA news agency announced on Monday.
Kim was thought to have suffered a stroke in August 2008, and a statement issued by KCNA following his death said that he "had received medical treatment for his cardiac and cerebrovascular diseases for a long period".
Kim Jong-il took over as DPRK leader after his father, DPRK founder Kim Il-sung, died of a heart attack in 1994.
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