Chinese Twitter Says Kim Jong-Un Was Assassinated

[PrisonerOfHope]

Chinese Twitter Says Kim Jong-Un Was Assassinated This Morning In Beijing

The Chinese micro-blogging service Weibo has exploded with rumors that new North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un was assassinated today at the North Korean embassy in Beijing. Twitter death rumors are totally cross-cultural.

Here's one version of the rumor, cleaned up from the crappy Google translation:

According to reliable sources, North Korean leader [Kim Jong-Un was killed] in Beijing in February 10 2012, at 2 o'clock and 45 minutes. Unknown persons broke into his residence shot and were subsequently shot and killed by the bodyguard.

Official Internet Rule: Any (Chinese) Twitter post that begins with "according to reliable source" is almost certainly fake. But this hasn't stopped Chinese netizens from speculating that the killing was a military coup, and posting blurry pictures purporting to show an unusual number of vehicles parked at the North Korean embassy. ChinaSMACK staff writer Joe Xu suggests reports of large number of cars at the embassy may have sparked the rumor. "Rumors like this pop up every other week," he writes on Twitter.

We will only know Kim Jong-Un's fate for sure when a new picture of him looking at things emerges.

Update: If you live in China, please help us figure out if Kim Jong-Un is dead.

gawker.com/5884033/chinese-twitter-says-kim-jong+un-was-assassinated-this-morning-in-beijing

[PrisonerOfHope]

Is Kim Jong-un Dead?
By Jason Miks
February 10, 2012


The answer is probably no, despite Chinese microblog Weibo being lit up by the rumor that Kim has been assassinated.

Jo Xu, a writer with the popular China SMACK site, has tweeted that “nothing is verified only report of large number of cars at NK embassy, but rumors like this pop up every other week.”

The most convincing rumors are, of course, the ones that play on genuine concerns, and it’s uncertain how successful Kim Jong-il’s son will be in consolidating power at such a tender age and with no real military experience. So an assassination isn’t completely beyond the realms of possibility.

Interestingly, last month the Korea Herald noted that there “have been reports that Kim Jong-un had planned to assassinate his eldest brother (Kim Jong-nam) and that such plans were thwarted by China’s intervention.”

This kind of tension certainly chimes with the mood described by Scott Snyder, a Korea specialist with the Council on Foreign Relations.

He wrote last month: “Kim Jong-nam, aged forty, is Kim Jong-il’s child with his first wife, Sung Hae-rim. As Kim Jong-il’s eldest son, Kim Jong-nam is reported to have been groomed for succession until he fell out of favor in 2001, after being detained at Narita Airport in Japan with a fake passport. Since that time, he has lived in apparent exile in Macao and Beijing. Kim Jong-nam has emerged as a surprisingly voluble critic of North Korea’s leadership succession, directly challenging the legitimacy and capability of Kim Jong-un as a leader.”

I also asked Bryan Kay, The Diplomat's Seoul correspondent, for his take. “It would seem since his older brother spoke with Japanese media calling into question his credentials and staying power that any perceived chink in the North Korean leadership facade is prone to such rumors, true or not.”

So anything is possible, but we’ll need more than the notoriously unreliable Chinese “twitterverse” to go on.

the-diplomat.com/the-editor/2012/02/10/is-kim-jong-un-dead//

[PrisonerOfHope]

[baydoll]

[shann0]

Hoax!!

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099691/Kim-Jong-Un-NOT-dead-Assassination-rumours-hoax-say-U-S-officials.html

Kim Jong Un is NOT dead: 'Assassination' rumours were a hoax, say U.S. officials

By Hugo Gye

Last updated at 5:06 AM on 11th February 2012

Comments (6)
Share

American officials have shot down rumours that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was assassinated.

The claim originated in China yesterday and rapidly circulated on Twitter and Chinese micro-blogging sites.

Due to the difficulty of verifying news from the ultra-secretive government of North Korea, news organisations were unable to debunk the rumour.

But U.S. officials said that they believed the claim to be untrue, and had seen no evidence of 'abnormal activity' in North Korea.
Not dead: Kim Jong Un greeting soldiers in a photograph released on Thursday

Not dead: Kim Jong Un greeting soldiers in a photograph released on Thursday

The claim that Kim, supreme leader of North Korea since the death of his father Kim Jong Il in December, had died apparently stemmed from a message sent out by a man who works near the country's embassy in Beijing.

He posted on Sina Weibo: 'Downstairs from the office, the cars at the Korean embassy are increasing rapidly, now there are over 30 cars. It's the first time I've seen this situation, did something happen in Korea?'

More...

Iran government cuts off internet access as hardline regime makes a stand
Pope could be the victim of assassination plot within a year, claims senior Vatican cardinal
Brazil first country to try and use Twitter's new censorship policy to silence its citizens

This seemingly innocuous question, bolstered by other witnesses who saw an unusual number of cars at the embassy, was magnified by the power of internet gossip into a rumour that Kim had been assassinated by gunmen who burst in his bedroom and were subsequently killed by his bodyguards.

Wilder commentators even spun the supposed assassination in to a broader claim that a coup was underway in North Korea which could depose the Kim dynasty, rulers of the country ever since it split with the south in 1948.
Rumours: North Korea's supreme leader was said to have been assassinated

Rumours: North Korea's supreme leader was said to have been assassinated

But when ABC News asked U.S. officials for confirmation of the assassination rumours, one simply told them, 'There's nothing to this.'

Another official said: 'Our experts are monitoring the situation and we see no abnormal activity on the [Korean] peninsula and nothing that credits that tweet as accurate.'

It was thought that the death of the elder Kim would herald a period of instability, potentially leading to regime change, but those expectations have not been fulfilled.

A less dramatic but equally bizarre explanation for the large number of cars at the North Korean embassy was suggested by Gawker and Chinese news agency Phoenix.

They pointed out that this month would have been the 70th birthday of Kim Jong Il, and a large number of events including tours of China and North Korea are set to mark the anniversary.
Happy birthday! Activity at the North Korean embassy in Beijing is more likely to mark the posthumous birthday celebrations of Kim Jong Il

Happy birthday! Activity at the North Korean embassy in Beijing is more likely to mark the posthumous birthday celebrations of Kim Jong Il

So perhaps the increased activity at the embassy was not to do with the current leader, but with his dead father - in fact, it is not even clear whether or not Kim Jong Un is currently in China.

The escalating pace of rumours points to the speed at which false information can speed round the world via social networks and online news sources.

It also highlights the increasing importance of Chinese micro-blogs, known as weibo, which are more lightly regulated than other Chinese media.

Weibo and Twitter seem to have fed off each other in the case of the Kim rumours, as most tweets about the claims pointed to weibo as their sources, while Chinese posts frequently mentioned Twitter to back up their own accuracy.

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099691/Kim-Jong-Un-NOT-dead-Assassination-rumours-hoax-say-U-S-officials.html#ixzz1m5Ss6GV2

[PrisonerOfHope]

[baydoll]

And so it goes....the trolls and governmentbots are infilerating the entire internet with their devious lies and misinformation dismantling our last sources of news information and truth. We are indeed living in a 1984 World.

I've been thinking about this all week and then bam this happens. So whom can we trust now?

[shann0]

So true baydoll.... Scary times we live in, stick close to Jesus!!!

[baydoll]

Amen Shann0! Yes Jesus is our hope and our truth! Praise His Wonderful Holy Precious Name!

[baydoll]

What Pastor Paul said is absoluely true and the world seems to forget that there are many MANY in North Korea that are rotting away in prisons just because they believe in and are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. We should pray for these courageous people and their families because chances are these families of those brave Christians are suffering horribly as well.

Satan has that country solidly under lock and key. It is locked in extreme darkness. It desperately needs our prayers. It desperately needs Jesus to come back and liberates the souls that are lost and His Church which is being brutally persecuted as we speak.

May God help these poor people of North Korea. May God help us all.

[wateredseeds]

We should start a rumor and see how far it goes. It would of course have to be a ridiculous rumor(we don't want to cause GENUINE concern). Something really ridiculous.

[PrisonerOfHope]

A false rumor is nothing but a lie...and lies aren't pleasing to God.

[wateredseeds]

Well i was joking, but yeah...i agree with you.