Lim Jong-il with his officers. Photo from The Telegraph

A secret network of tunnels stretching for dozens of miles has been built under North Korea’s capital city to allow Kim Jong-il, the country’s leader, to escape in case of emergency, a defector said.

The tunnels were built almost 1,000 feet below ground, said Hwang Jang-yop, the highest-ranking defector to cross the border into South Korea.

The tunnels connect with underground railway networks and were built both as escape routes and as shelter for the reclusive Mr Kim, his family and top officials, Mr Hwang said.

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My Comment: The paragraph that caught my attention was the last one ….

South’s Korea Institute for Defence Analysis says the North has some 8,000 underground military facilities.

Soldiers from Fort Bliss demonstrated a robot, the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle, last week in New Mexico. Eric Draper for The New York Times

From The New York Times:

FORT BLISS, Tex.

By GottaLaff

What a gigantic, enormous, gargantuan, staggeringly mammoth job this will be:

Law enforcement officials bracing for the largest crowds in inaugural history are preparing far-reaching security — thousands of video cameras, sharpshooters, air patrols — to safeguard President-elect Barack Obama’s swearing-in.

People attending the ceremony and parade on Jan.