N. Korean President Dead

TOKYO--North Korean President Kim Il Sung has died, Japan's Kyodo News Service said this morning, quoting the South Korean Defense Ministry in Seoul.

Kyodo's report said that North Korean guards were broadcasting over loudspeakers across the demilitarized zone that Kim perished in a "shoot out."

It did not give other details or say when the death occurred.

Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) also reported Kim was dead, saying he was "shot to death." It also attributed its report to the Defense Ministry in Seoul, the capital of South Korea.

The reports followed a spate of rumors in recent days that the North Korean leader, who officially was listed as 74 years old, had died.

He and his communist regime came to power in North Korea after the peninsula was divided following World War II.