North Korea raises security, has troops on alert - 21st Dec 2011

North Korea has tightened security in cities, put troops on alert and won loyalty pledges from top generals after leader Kim Jong Il's death as it consolidates power behind his anointed heir, South Korean intelligence indicated Wednesday.

Tensions around Northeast Asia have risen sharply as Kim's untested, twenty-something son, Kim Jong Un, rises to power in a country with a 1.2-million troop military, ballistic missiles and an advanced nuclear weapons development program.

In a move likely to infuriate the North, meanwhile, South Korean activists and defectors launched giant balloons containing tens of thousands of propaganda leaflets, some of them opposing a hereditary transfer of power in North Korea.

Kim Jong Il ruled the country for 17 years after inheriting power from his father, national founder and eternal North Korean President Kim Il Sung, who died in 1994. Kim Jong Un only entered the public view last year and remains a mystery to most of the world. Read More