North Korea: The bright side of crazed dictatorships. North Korea attack linked to leadership succession. Stephen McDonell, wires Updated Fri 26 Nov 2010, 4:16pm AEDT More evidence appears to be emerging that this week's North Korean artillery attack on a South Korean island is bound up in the country's leadership succession. Two soldiers and two civilians were killed and dozens of homes were destroyed in the attack on the island of Yeonpyeong. The attack was the heaviest since the Korean War ended in 1953 and marked the first civilian deaths in an assault since the bombing of a South Korean airliner in 1987.
According to North Korean media the country's leader Kim Jong-il visited the artillery base which attacked the South just hours before this week's shelling started. The report said he was accompanied by his son and heir Kim Jong-un. If true, it would suggest that orders for the artillery attack came right from the top. Even if not true, the report shows North Korea's propaganda machine is placing the country's leader and his son at the front line and in command. Defence minister resigns.