Concerns over North Korea’s next move

NORTH KOREA was in seclusion yesterday, a day after it announced the death of its leader Kim Jong Il, as concern mounted over what would happen next in the nation that is trying to build a nuclear arsenal.

While US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged North Korea to follow a “path of peace”, diplomats and experts were struggling to understand what would happen as it transitions from the 17-year iron rule of Kim Jong Il, 69, to that of his untested son, in his late 20s.

Ruler-in-waiting Kim Jong Un paid respects to his father, who lay in state in the capital of Pyongyang ahead of his funeral on December 28.