The death of North Korea's Kim Jong Il is not a ratings trigger in itself?for South Korea, Fitch Ratings said in an e-mail today. 

"However, clearly it gives rise to additional uncertainty and we will keep the situation under close review," the e-mail said.

Moody’s Investors Service said the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is unlikely to change the economic and financial fundamentals of South Korea.

“We recognize that the collapse of the North Korean state or an outbreak of war pose an event risk for South Korea, which will have severe implications,” Thomas Byrne, a senior vice president at Moody’s in Singapore, said in a telephone interview. “we consider the likelihood to be remote even under the current uncertain situation.”

Moody’s “will continue to rate South Korea on the basis of its economic and financial fundamentals, either unlikely to change on the account of the death of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il,” he said.