Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 9, 1994 TAG: 9407120038
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA LENGTH: Short
With a shaking voice, an announcer on South Korea's KBS television said Kim, 82, had died Friday. The cause of death was not given.
The television report cited a North Korea broadcast, the contents of which were confirmed by South Korean officials.
Kim Il Sung ruled North Korea with an iron hand for four decades.
He is the only leader the hard-line communist country has ever known since its founding in 1948, three years after the Korean peninsula was liberated from Japan's colonial rule.
Kim, referred to as the ``Great Leader,'' was the head of a powerful personality cult and was revered as a godlike figure.
Kim's heir apparent is his first son, Kim Jong Il, 52. If the younger Kim successfully succeeds his father, it would be the first lineal transfer of power in the communist world.
Memo: this is not the story that ran in the Metro edition.