end of an era, north korea's reclusive leader, king jeongle is dead. countries appear ready for the transition of power and wonder what's next. nearly two decades ago, kim jong il took over control of north korea from his late father. now, the isolated nation appears to be in his son's hands. kim is dead. dear leader to some, dictator to many others, he left his mark on

his country. with kim gone, the focus is on what kind of leader kim jong un will be. korean central intelligence says kim died on a train on his way to an inspection tour.

he had been undergoing treatment for problems with his heart and brain for a long time. he was also suffering from fatigue. kim was 69. state television says his body is now at a palace in pyongyang. his father, kim il-sung's body has been kept there. since 1994. 9 north korean government has declared a period of mourning that will last longer than a week. kim's funeral will be held on december 28th in pyongyang. a national memorial ceremony is also scheduled for the next day. north korea announced a committee to arrange kim's funeral. the first person it mentioned is kim's third son, kim jong un. saying the country has what it calls the great successor and leader of the party, military and the people, kim jong un at the forefront. this is the first time state-run media called kim jong un his father's successor.

and hoping to bring stronger unity among the party, the military and the people. here are how some of the people in the north korean capital are reacting to kim's death. newspapers in tokyo rushed out extra editions delivering the news of kim's death. >> depending on who will take over if he will go in the same footsteps try to do the same

thing or if he hopefully is more open-minded. >> japan's prime minister yoshihiko noda spoke to reporters on monday night about the government's response to kim jong-il's death. >> translator: kim's sudden death should not affect peace and security on the korean peninsula. i've ordered all government offices to do three things -- step up information-gathering on the upcoming situation surrounding north korea. work closely with the united states, south korea, china, and other related countries, and take appropriate measures to prepare for emergencies.

>> noda also said he spoke on the phone with south korean president lee myung-bak on monday and they agreed to cooperate to prepare for any emergency. noda referred to the issue of north korea's abductions of japanese nationals. saying the government will do its best to gather information to determine how the issue is affected by kim's death. for more insight, nhk world spoke with deputy foreign minister, hitoshi tanaka. >> translator: i was surprised at the news of kim's death, there's no reason to believe that north korea has solidified its transition of power. we have to keep a close watch on the situation for the time being. i negotiated with north korea behind the scenes for one year.

during the negotiations the country made decisions through talks among officials. north korea is under dictatorship. but it seems to allow a group of officials around the leader to make decisions. north korea is not an ordinary society. for example, people are starving because of a food crisis. in a normal country, it wouldn't be surprising if people staged strong protests. but the north korean government used the threat of military power to stop demonstrations from even breaking out. this means whether the north's next regime can be solid or not depends on the next leader's ability to control the military in a firm manner. this time could represent a big opportunity or the beginning of a major crisis for north korea. it is kim jong il who had the final say in making tough

decisions on issues such as the country's nuclear program, and abductions of foreign nationals. what matters most is the leader's ability to silence opposing elements in the military. it's necessary for other nations to take action on north korea, to insure the country makes positive shifts in its policies. countries around the world that are watching north korea's transition of power closely. the u.s. government has expressed concern about the situation on the korean peninsula. nhk world's kaho reports from washington. >> the u.s. government says it is closely monitoring events in north korea. white house spokesman jay carney says in a statement that president barack obama has notified. and he just had a phone call at midnight with south korean president, lee myung bak, confirming close coordination on the issue. he noted that the u.s. will remain committed to stability on the korean peninsula.

a spokesperson for the u.s. defense department told nhk the pentagon cannot independently verify kim's death but will relay information when becomes available. the u.s. navy had broke news of kim's death while noting it was still unconfirmed. cnn television in deuced kim as a leader who engaged in brinksmanship over hits country's uranium enrichment program despite widespread economic trouble. it added that the security situation in the north will depend on the smooth transition of power to kim's third son, kim jong un. kim jong il's heath had been failing for some time. so the u.s. government had been preparing for his death by assuming various scenarios. it's understood that the north will take provocative action such as missile launching and nuclear testing. questions are also being raised over the fate of six-party nuclear talks. talks have been suspended for

three years. the u.s. plans to deal with these events by consulting with japan and south korea as well as china and russia. nhk world, washington. let's check on situation in south korea. our reporter anna jeong joins us from seoul. what's happening where you are? >> here in seoul, people on the streets say they were astonished and at the same time worried when they heard the news. >> i was surprised, i hope the unification of the south and the north will accelerate. >> the government has to do all it can to prepare for any emergency. >> reporter: south korean president, lee myung bak, has called an emergency national security meeting and instructed his cabinet ministers to stay on alert in the face of the

developing situation in north korea. lee told the ministers to take necessary steps to prepare for all possible scenarios and to work closely with other nations, to maintain the peace and stability on the korean peninsula. he also called on the south korean people not to panic as to continue to go about their usual business. lee held phone conferences with u.s. president barack obama and japanese prime minister, yoshihiko noda. the leaders confirmed that their countries will cooperate in closely monitoring the situation in north korea. telephone conferences at the foreign ministerial level are also planned with japan, china and russia. the entire south korean military is on the highest alert, but so far, the military says there are no abnormal movements within the north korean military. the south korean military requested the u.s. military stationed in the country to step

up the monitoring of developments in the north. inter-korean relations were badly strained last year after north korea allegedly sank a south korean naval vessel and shelled a south korean island. but the two sides resumed contact this year, which included high-level talks on the nuclear issue in the autumn. but the news of kim's death is likely to slow down dialogues to rebuild trust between the two countries. experts in south korea say the possibility of sudden political unrest in the north is slim. but the south korean government plans to closely watch the impact of kim's death which came as the north tries to consolidate the power of his son, kim jong un. >> thanks, anna. next we go to beijing, where our kango komodo has spent the day gathering reaction. >> reporter: the north korean embassy in beijing has beijing

has its flag at half staff. the north koreans going in and out of the embassy said they couldn't believe kim jong il was dead. chinese police are keeping a close watch on reporters around the embassy. china's state media have reported kim's death without commentary. >> translator: north korea is a poor country. i hope kim's death will turn things around for the better. >> translator: i want north korea to be more open. the nation should further organize itself in terms of democracy. north korea will be able to improve the situation if it puts priority on its economy over its military. >> reporter: china's foreign minister spokesperson met with report he is on monday afternoon. he expressed his deep condolences to the north korean people on the death of their leader. >> translator: kim was north korea's leader and china's close

friend. china hopes to play an active role in achieving peace and stability on the korean peninsula in continued cooperation with north korea. >> reporter: diplomatic sources in beijing say they think the only change in the north korean government will be kim jong un taking over as leader. they expect him to be supported by another person who is married to kim jong un's younger sister. the chinese government appears to be planning to step up security along the border to prevent north koreans from threeing into china. nhk world, beijing. now, that border kengo just referred to one of the few places where it's possible to get a glimpse inside north korea. nhk world's mari yamada is reporting from a chinese city.

>> it serves as a large hub for cross-border trade. now a few lights can be seen on the north korean side. a 900-meter-long bridge connects the two countries. just across the river that runs along the border is the north korean city of sinjiu. 3:30 p.m. on monday, we could see the national flag flying at half-mast. other than that, things seemed normal, people and vehicles could be seen moving around. from time to time, trucks crossed the bridge into china. we talked to people at the customs office on the bridge. they said they saw about 20 people trying to hurry across to north korea. it's possible that they were north koreans who had heard the news of kim jong il's death and were rushing to return home. mariaia madda, nhk world, dandon, china. >> nhk world's senior

commentator, masayo joins us now. >> the main concern for japan is whether there is a smooth transfer of power to kim's third son, kim jong un. you know, kim jong il tried to show the public and the world that kim jong un was his chosen successor. north korea state-run media has urged people to rally behind him. the world is watching closely for signs of instability in the nation. there's been no official statement from the korean workers party on the country's official succession plan. but there has been, there have been clear indications that kim jong un will be in charge. japan and north korea's other neighboring countries are hoping for a smooth succession. because they don't want to see any turmoil in north korea. that would affect how all of northeast asia. prime minister noda has ordered his government agencies and ministries to find out what is

really going on in the country. the japanese police and self-defense forces are on the alert just in case. >> what could happen if the transfer of power is not successful? >> well, one possibility is that the north korean military could make some kind of move to take power. kim jong un made his first official public appearance last year. but he still lacks authority. controlling the powerful military won't be an easy job. another possibility is that some kind of citizen revolt. north korea has food shortages and a low standard of living. people in the country are not really happy. if any kind of revolt happens in the country, north korean refugees could flee to china, south korea and even japan. so far there have been no such report of confusion. but the japanese police and

self-defense forces are on the alert, just in case. >> what impact could kim's death on security in northeast asia as a whole? >> well the biggest security issue in northeast asia is north korea's nuclear program. japan, south korea, the united states, china, russia and north korea have held so-called six-party talks on this issue. but the discussions have been on hold for three years, because of north korea's acts of provocation, such as nuclear tests and further uranium enrichment. the japanese government is watching how kim jong il's death will affect this issue. its position is that if the transfer of power is smooth, there will be no big change in north korea's status at the six-party talks, because kim jong un has been faithful to his father's vision.

japan's closely watching who will be supporting him and giving him strategic advice. it's also waiting to see how kim's death and the transfer of power will affect the issue of japanese nationals, abducted by north korea. at one point, the north korea agreed to reinvestigate the issue. you know, japan hopes that by working with china, south korea and the united states, it can persuade north korea's new leadership to be a more cooperative member of the international society. >> all right, nhk world's senior commentator, masayo nakajima. thanks, appreciate it. rachel ferguson sup next with weather. time for another update on the world's weather. in eastern asia we were showing you video of what happened when

washi, the tropical storm ripped through the southern philippines. >> this is the storm now, it's a tropical depression, no longer posing threat to any land masses, but certainly the clean-up operation is going to take quite some time. this is a devastating storm, it left more than 650 people dead with more than 900 missing at present. so it will be an ongoing story. if you take a look at the continent here, it's looking dry under high pressure. not much to say about this. it will continue to be very dry and that could be problematic in terms of fire weather across some parts of china. as for japan, the pacific edge is staying dry, but we continue to see the wintry precipitation for the northeastern coast. so snow for all of those people heading out to the mountains at the weekend. tokyo, 10 degrees for the tuesday high. 3 in seoul, 2 in beijing with minus 18 in ulan bator. 10 in chongqing and just above that in shanghai. meanwhile we have 22 in taipei

and we'll be in the low 30s in bangkok as well as manila. okay. now into north america. a very slow-moving winter storm system is going to be dominating the southern plains and actually spreading up into the great lakes region. let's see what's happening. we've got a couple of low pressure systems here. the front that stretches up into eastern canada, it's going to be a very potent storm indeed. you can see where all the heavy snow is going to be here across parts of kansas down into new mexico. and then it's going to be turning over to some freezing rain, a bit of a mix. we could see some severe thunderstorms with that as well towards the gulf coast and up into eastern texas. then the rain spreads up, turning to snow in eastern canada. so that's the set-up for monday. temperaturewise, we have a series of 7s in toronto, new york city as well as chicago. a warm day in atlanta ahead of the storm coming in, 17 degrees for you. 11 in oklahoma city and behind the storm, certainly is going to be much, much cooler and you can see the blues diving down into

northern portions of, northwestern portions of mexico. minus 3 in denver, minus 5 in winnipeg and 14 for you in los angeles. all right now north america, no, we've done that. let's go into europe instead. looking pretty good for the time being out west. but there is yet another round of precipitation coming in. you can see the cloud there. it's going to translate to more snow across parts of scotland, certainly upper elevations of france, as well as germany. we have a weakening system towards the northeast. that will be settling down for you. but this mess down here in the southeast could be again quite problematic. snow for parts of the northern balkans, croatia, you could see about 25 centimeters. parts of ukraine really seeing the totals. snow totals piling up as well. and then storms down towards the coast. you could even see thunder and hail with that as well. so looking pretty unsettled for the southeastern quarter of the continent. temperatures are going to be shaping up like this. we have 8 in london, paris, as

well as madrid. just about the freezing point in stockholm, moscow and warsaw. it is considerably cooler out here. 2 for kiev, but even the cold is stretching into central locations and we're in the mid teens in athens, as well as lisbon. here's your extended forecast.

as we've been reporting, north korean leader, kim jong il is dead. the country's state-run media said in a special program that he died on saturday of a stroke. kim was 69. the media for the first time called kim's third son, kim jong un, the successor.

korean central television says kim died on a train. he was on his way to an inspection tour. he'd been undergoing treatment for problems with his heart and brain for a long time. he was also suffering from fatigue. kim was 69. state television says his body is now at a palace in pyongyang. his father, kim ill sung's body has been kept there since 1994. the north korean government has declared a period of mourning that will last longer than a week. kim's funeral will be held on

december 28th in pyongyang, and a national memorial ceremony is also scheduled for the next day. north korea announce the committee to arrange kim's funeral. the first person mentioned being kim's third son, kim jong un. state-run media says the country has what it calls a great successor and leader of the party and the military and the people, kim jong-un, at the forefront. this is the first time state-run media has called kim jong un his father's successor, and it is also emphasizing the country should follow kim jong-un's leadership to build stronger unity among the party, military and the people. here's how some people in the north korean capital are reacting to kim's death.

>> newspapers in tokyo rushed out extra editions, delivering the news of kim's death. >> depending on if he will take over, try to go in the same footsteps or if he hopefully is more open-minded. >> japan's prime minister, yoshihiko noda, spoke to reporters on monday night about the government's response to kim jong il's death.

>> translator: kim's sudden death should not affect peace and security on the korean peninsula. i've ordered all government offices to do three things. step up information-gathering on the upcoming situation surrounding north korea. work closely with the united states, south korea, china and other related countries. and take appropriate measures to prepare for emergencies. >> noda also said he spoke on the phone with south korean president, lee myung bak, on monday. and that they agreed to cooperate closely to prepare for any emergency. noda also referred to the issue of north korea's abductions of japanese nationals, saying the government will do its best to gather information to determine how the issue is affected by kim's death. that's our broadcast for this hour on "newsline."

we'll be back in half an hour. i'm michio kijima in tokyo. thank you for watching. bye-bye.