overall, it's business as usual. >> abc's joohee cho. he's a joung guy. it should be fascinating exactly what he does. his father felt he was the most like him, that's why he was picked. >> he's 28. they don't know much about him, as was mentioned. i think people are very concerned about that and the nuclear armament, too. >> that is a huge question mark here. we'll see what comes next. >> and we'll have more on the death of kim jong-il coming up on "good morning america." you can always get information 24 hours a day at abcnews.com. >>> in other new this monday morning, a powerful winter storm is about to slam the southwest and the southern plains this afternoon with up to a foot of blowing snow. >> white out conditions are expected. stretches of interstate 40 and other roads will likely be shut down before the storm heads to the midwest and the northeast. >> with that, here's a look at the weather. a stormy day in texas, a chance of tornadoes around houston, san antonio, austin, and dallas. a mix of rain and snow showers from pittsburgh to buffalo and n

they all think it's fake and somewhat staged. >> abc's joohee cho, live from seoul. thank you. >>> to politics now here at home, now, and the countdown to iowa next tuesday. the republican candidates are lashing out at each other, with newt gingrich saying he wouldn't vote for ron paul, even if paul becomes the nominee. with more on the negative turn the race is taking, we're joined by abc's tahman bradley. good morning, tahman. >> reporter: dan and sunny, with so much riding on iowa, the candidates and outside groups are spending millions on negative ads, hoping to persuade voters in this final week. with just six days before the iowa caucuses, it's getting nasty. the candidates are hammering away at each other, with some of their superpack doing some of the dirty work. >> the fact that gingrich was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. >> reporter: as his bus rolls across iowa, newt gingrich is trying to regain momentum, and fend off a barrage of negative ads from the romney campaign and outside groups. >> all i'd say to him is, if you want to run a negative campai

abc's joohee cho joins us now. good morning, joohee. >> reporter: good morning. it was shocking when people heard there will be a special announcement. people here expecting news on them giving up their nuclear program. but what we saw, was their announcer dressed in black funeral costume, in tears. kim jong-il died of heart failure due to great physical and mental strain, unquote. he left us so suddenly, so badly, she says. kim suffered a stroke three years ago. but recently, he was actively making trips to china and russia. and within his country, all on camera, as if to show off that he was well and healthy. north korea has been preparing for hereditary succession. his third son, kim jong un is already in power taking high-ranking post. but high military officials are against succession. the problem is the lack of information. we still do not know what is going on inside north korea. will be a succession? will there be a coup? we don't know. >> at this point are we getting any reaction from south korea in light of this news? >> reporter: people here are of cou