Kim Jong Il

Some humor -- like, say, a guy slipping on a banana peel -- is universal. But when more sophisticated jokes cross into other cultures they can get lost in translation.

Kim Jong Il, the eccentric leader of North Korea since 1994, has died at the age of 69. North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency reported that after “great mental and physical strain,” he passed away of a heart attack at 8:30 a.m. Saturday while on a train during a “field guidance tour.”