Erstellt am: 20. 12. 2011 - 10:00 Uhr

Farewell, dear leader

Reality Check: Death of Kim Jong Il, death of Vaclav Havel, prominent journalist murdered in Dagestan, tax evasion in poor countries

The "dear leader" is dead. The who ruled North Korea in a complex, controvertial and often downright bizarre fashion passed away at the weekend, apparently from a heart attack.

That much is certain, about someone about whom very little indeed is certain. He was awarded the title "dear leader" in 1980, by his father, the "eternal president". However, as his father is still the eternal president despite having been dead since 1994, it's unclear exactly when, or even if, the dear leader became head of state.

That may be the subject of some jokes in the West, but there is no joking about North Korea's nuclear capacities, or it's place in the infamous "axis of evil".

On today's Reality Check, North Korea analyst, Aidan Foster-Carter looks at the impact on North Korea of Kim Jong Il's death.

China is the country most closely linked to North Korea. They share a long common border, and a common communist system, although their interpretations of communism may be different from each other. Our Beijing correspondent, Jörg Winter, reports on Chinese reaction to the announcement of Kim Jong Il's death, and how relations might proceed in the future.

Vaclav Havel dies

The last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel, has died at the age of 75 after a long illness. Despite having been an architecht of the Velvet Revolution and almost synonymous with Czech independence outside the country, few young Czechs think of him as any more than just another politician. Zdenek Kudrna of the Austrian Academy of sciences talks to Riem Higazi about Havel's legacy.

Prominent journalist killed in Dagestan

The founder of one of the region's few independent newspapers, Khadzhimurad Kamalov, has been shot outside his offices in the captial of Dagestan. Anthony Mills of the International Press Institute anaylses the culture of impunity that seems to prevail in Russia.

The missing tax billions that keep the poorest countries poor

Gerhard Zahler-Treiber fromAttac Austria tells Joanna Bostock why developing countries are suffering most from tax evasion, according to a new report by Global Financial Integrity

FM4 Reality Check

Monday to Friday from 12.00 to 14.00, and after the show via Podcast or fm4.orf.at/realitycheck.