Late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died 'in a fit of rage' over damages at crucial power plant project: report

South Korea media reports the 'Supreme Commander' suffered a heart attack after learning that a hydroelectric dam had suffered a major leak.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                          

YONHAP/KCNA/EPA

Kim Jong Il in January 2011. A report in South Korea media says Ill died after becoming upset about a leak at a crucial power plant that was under construction north of Pyongyang.  

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il died from a heart attack sparked by a "fit of rage" over a shoddy construction at a hydroelectric power plant, South Korea media claims.

 

A report in the Chosun Ilbo, a conservative newspaper in South Korea, says the late "Supreme Commander" blew his top after being told about a massive leak at the hydro-electric dam in Huichon, Jagang Province.

Il considered the plant, located some 75 miles north of the power-sapped capital of Pyongyang, crucial to the reclusive country's energy future and had visited the site eight times since it was rushed into construction in 2009, the report said. 

 

"After being briefed about the leak, Kim Jong Il lambasted officials and ordered them to repair it," an unnamed source told Chosun Ilbo.

 

"He rushed to make an on-site inspection of the facility unable to contain his anger and died suddenly."

 

At the time of the leak, Kim Jong Il was already fuming over reports of defects at steel and textile manufacturing plants also considered "poster projects" of North Korea's emergence as a "powerful and prosperous nation," the newspaper said.  

The source said the damages to the 330-foot high Huichon dam were significant.

AP-North Koreans overcome with grief after learning of Kim Jong Il’s death in December 2011.

 

“It wasn’t just a crack. The safety of the entire dam was in question,” the source said.

KIm Jong Il died on Dec. 17, 2011, according to North Korea state media. He was said to be 69, though North Korea experts questioned that figure. 

At the time, state media said Il was traveling on a train when he suffered a massive heart attack brought on by overwork and stress. 

 

KCNA/EPA

Il was mourned in an over-the-top state funeral. The procession, above, at the plaza of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, featured billboard-sized portraits of the leader and mourners howling in grief.

 

The Huichon plant was completed on April 5, 2012, seven years ahead of schedule.

Il's son and successor, Kim Jong Un, did not attend the opening ceremony because he was too aggrieved over what the project had done to his father, sources told the newspaper.