The North Korean leader whose iron rule and nuclear ambitions have dominated world security fears for more than a decade has died. Kim Jong Il's death 17 years after he inherited power from his father was announced on Monday by state television in Pyongyang. The report says that Kim was on a train on Saturday when he died of a heart attack. He was 69.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is one of the highest level Western diplomats ever to meet Kim Jong-il. She met with him on a state visit to North Korea in 2000. At an appearance in Pittsburgh last week, Albright said that she wanted to make a statement when meeting him, so she wore a very large American Flag pin. She also wore heels to appear taller, but that was all for naught, as Kim also wore heels.

That pin and more than 200 others are currently on display at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.