North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has died

Kim Jong Il, September 2011 (KCNA/Reuters)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has died, as North Korean state television has reported:

Kim probably had a stroke in August 2008 and may have also contracted pancreatic cancer, according to South Korean news reports.

The son of Kim Il Sung, North Korea’s founder, Kim was a chain-smoking recluse who ruled for 17 years after coming to power in July 1994 and resisted opening up to the outside world in order to protect his regime. The potential succession of his little-known third son, Kim Jong Un, threatens to trigger a dangerous period for the Korean peninsula, where 1.7 million troops from the two Koreas and the U.S. square off every day.  

The cause of death was reported as "physical fatigue."