This is curious, indeed. I guess coups do happen, but its hard to imagine being the palace guards with the balls to take on somebody this powerful and ruthless. Maybe he had one to many cognacs and fell in the shower. We can only hope.

coups happen all the time it wouldn't be anything new to human life--dear leader is s.o.b. and if something is happening i hope whoever comes out on top has some better sense

Pictures don't usually come down unless dictators go down first.The picture has not just moved the other has been repositioned,who is it of? The banner beneath has changed also and there are subtle differences in the dimensions,which could be camera angle,but there are significant differences.Are there better pictures available?
This is like the good old days of Kremlin watching.

The other photo should be of Kim Jong Il's departed daddy, Kim Il Sung a/k/a Great Leader.

Clearly "dear leader" is in trouble. Interesting how this closely follows the re-election of George Bush

Under an oppressive dictatorship, you don't take down a photo and leave a bare spot. If you are going to place an image in "a more ornate frame" you get another copy of the photo and put it in the frame before you ever touch the first photo.

The spot can only be bare for seconds, not days.

Something is afoot.

Hopefully the "dear leader" is dearly departed.

A coup doesn't necessarily bode well for the region, or the US. The coup could include members who thought the North wasn't belligerent enough and wanted to take an even harder line against the US, Japan, and the South. This group could have been seeking a confrontation with the West (worst case scenario).

Or, the coup included those members who thought that the North needed reform and massive economic and social change, throwing out Kim and his hardliner friends. (better case scenario)

Middle case scenario would suggest that those involved were unhappy with the direction Kim was heading and wanted change, but only limited to the leader himself - not necessarily with the social and economic order. After all, these individuals were likely beneficiaries of the system, and would want to preserve those benefits for themselves.

That the photos haven't been replaced by anything else suggests that those in charge aren't sure who should be put up there - or they haven't decided who should be the public face for the government.

It is interesting that no one has seen any public pronoucements from the government about what is going on, other than the photo kerfuffle.

While the timing is strange, I'm not sure we can read much of anything into it. However, if Castro suddenly takes a turn for the worse, then we've got to consider that the CIA finally may have gotten a few things right in the last few weeks/months. (tongue in cheek)

Excellent point Lawhawk. We could end up with someone much, much worse.

I think most people -- including myself -- fail to remember the possibility that the removal of Kim Jong Il won't necessarily result in a leader more attuned to ours and the worlds wants, needs and desires.

Kim Jong Il had been pretty hardline. While I can conceive of someone even more of a hardliner, it's pretty hard. Odds are that a coup would be neutral at worst, and potentially a real positive development.

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