“Every major intelligence agency across the world does the exercise. Call it the ‘hit by the bus’ scenario. If leader X of important/sensitive/unstable country Y drops dead tomorrow, what happens? Who takes over? How might that change things? For some countries, the exercise is simple. For others, it’s murky and complicated. Then there’s North Korea.”  - www.time.com

Well, hand it to North Korea, Kim Jong-Il has again set the news media chattering away about the future of the DPRK and the implications of a nuclear North Korea without the “Dear Leader” at the helm.

Timing is impecable: all eyes were on the fashionable military parade to see if the Chairman would show.  When he didn’t, it touched off a firestorm of speculation and North Korea arm-chair analysts had a field day.