This breaking-news article informed America that Kim Jong Il – the second leader of communist North Korea – is dead. However, NPR made their article different from those of other news-sources that also announced Kim Jong Il’s death by giving a history of how North Korea was formed and all the mystery and secrecy surrounding the political stability/instability in the country because of their intense isolation. The exigence of the piece came from his death being announced earlier this week on North Korean TV. It was written in order to inform Americans and other Westerners (audience) of the North Korean “tyrant’s” death. It was obvious this was the audience the author was appealing to because he cites a former American president, George W. Bush, in his description of past North Korean leaders. The audience is also evident because of the author’s strong, negative diction (like “tyrant”) throughout the piece, and especially in the introductory paragraph where the author writes “Kim Jong Il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic leader whose iron rule and nuclear ambitions for his isolated communist nation dominated world security fears for more than a decade, has died. He was 69.” This sentence structure – a very long first sentence and then a short, 3-word addition – was capturing as well and added power to the news. The author accomplished his main purpose of informing us that North Korea’s leader is dead, but it also accomplished an underlying purpose of scaring warning that the next leader may be just as worse, and that perhaps there is some division within the political party – this not only keeps the American public informed, but also encourages readers to check back on NPR for new information that may be released.
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