The speculation without facts about Kim Jong-un’s health has intensified:
Speculation is rising on the physical condition of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, following reports of a suspected cardiovascular surgical procedure.
Korea Times
While South Korean online media dealing with North Korea issues reported he was recovering from the recent operation, CNN reported he was “in grave danger.”
Citing a local source in the North, the South Korean media outlet the Daily NK reported Monday that Kim underwent the surgery at Hyangsan Medical Center near Mount Myohyang in North Pyongan Province, an exclusive hospital for the Kim family, April 12, and has been receiving treatment at his vacation home nearby.
According to the Daily NK, the procedure was performed by a surgeon from Kim Man Yu Hospital, the North’s most up-to-date medical facility in Pyongyang, attended by other renowned doctors in the country who were mobilized to Hyangsan. Most of them were sent back to Pyongyang, Sunday, as Kim’s condition was improving and only a few are still there to check on his condition, the source said.
According to the South Korean government there is nothing unusual going on in North Korea:
South Korea has seen no unusual signs suggesting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is ill, government officials said Tuesday, after CNN reported that Kim is “in grave danger after a surgery.”
“There is nothing unusual going on in North Korea. It’s not true,” a government official told Yonhap News Agency on condition of anonymity, referring to the CNN report that cited an unidentified “U.S. official with direct knowledge” of the matter.
Presidential spokesman Kang Min-seok also said that nothing unusual has been detected in the North.
Yonhap
If Kim Jong-un was at risk of dying there would be a lot more intelligence indicators to pick up which if you believe the ROK government, they are not seeing these indicators.
In 2014 this same thing happened and it ended being Kim Jong-un had ankle surgery. He could be having the same issue again due to his obesity effecting his ankles. I guess we will see what happens.
The belief is that Kim Jong-un is trying to break away from the personality cult of his father and grandfather:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s conspicuous absence from commemorations for his grandfather Kim Il Sung’s birth anniversary this week suggests he could be looking to emphasise his own authority over his family’s legacy, analysts said.
The April 15 birthday of the North’s founder is the most important celebration of the nuclear-armed country’s annual political calendar, known as the Day of the Sun.
North Koreans are taught from birth to revere Kim Il Sung and his son and successor Kim Jong Il, father of the current leader, and all adults wear badges depicting one or both men.
But Kim’s absence from any official reports on this year’s commemorations led analysts to speculate he wants to distance himself from the “cult of personality” surrounding the country’s ruling dynasty.
The state KCNA news agency did not mention him in a Thursday report on senior officials visiting the Kumsusan Palace to pay the “highest tribute” to the two late leaders.
Since inheriting power in 2011, Kim has always gone to the sprawling mausoleum on the outskirts of the capital on their birth anniversaries.
Pictures Thursday in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the official mouthpiece of the ruling party, did not show him attending, although a floral basket was draped with a banner bearing his name.
“Kim Jong Un wants to break away from the past, as well as the North’s traditional cult of personality,” said Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean defector and researcher in Seoul.
“His message is that Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung’s times are now over,” he told AFP.
“He wants to come across and brand himself as a leader who is modern and competent, rather than a descendant of his predecessors.
“And he wants to gradually tone down the idolisation of the two late leaders as it goes against his agenda to brand the North as a ‘normal state’.”
AFP
You can read more at the link, but this seems more like PR to help the Moon administration’s likely upcoming attempts to restart the Kaesong Industrial Project and the Kumgang Resort. The Moon administration can claim that Kim is a modernizer and not like his predecessors, even though he is.
With the parliamentary elections under way in South Korea and the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Il-sung coming up, the North Koreans couldn’t keep quiet:
North Korea fired what appeared to be cruise missiles off its east coast and air-to-ground missiles from fighter jets into the East Sea on Tuesday, South Korea’s military said, in muscle-flexing maneuvers on the eve of the late national founder’s birthday and the South’s general elections.
The surface-to-ship cruise missiles were fired northeastward from areas near its eastern coastal town of Munchon at around 7 a.m. during a time period of more than 40 minutes, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, adding they flew around 150 kilometers before splashing into waters off the east coast.
Along with the missile launches, the North flew Sukhoi-variant fighter jets and MiG-type planes above the eastern coastal city of Wonsan, and fired multiple air-to-ground missiles into the East Sea, the JCS added.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but this was the first cruise missile test by the North Koreans since 2017.
So does anyone believe that North Korea has zero COVID-19 cases? Well the WHO does:
North Korea reported earlier this week that despite testing, and amid quarantining, not one confirmed case of the coronavirus has been found. Not one. This, despite the fact that North Korea’s border countries, South Korea and China, have been hit hard by the virus.
And the World Health Organization goes — yep, that’s right.
“As of 2 April, 709 people — 11 foreigners and 698 nationals — have been tested for COVID-19. There is no report of a COVID-19 case. There are 509 people in quarantine — two foreigners and 507 nationals,” said Edwin Salvador, the WHO representative to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, in an email to Reuters. “Since 31 December, 24,842 people have been released from quarantine, which includes 380 foreigners.”
Washington Times
You can read more at the link, but I think one of the things at least from American point of view that is going to come out of the 2020 Pandemic is the public trusting health organizations less.
Is this the pretext North Korea’s looking for to restart long range missile testing? I guess we will see:
North Korea said Monday that “reckless remarks” by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made it clear that Washington has no intention of resuming nuclear talks, and warned that it is now compelled to pay back “the pains the U.S. has imposed on our people.”
After a teleconference of foreign ministers of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations last week, Pompeo told reporters the international community must remain united in urging North Korea to return to nuclear talks and in continuing to apply pressure on its nuclear and missile programs.
Pompeo’s remarks showed the U.S. has no strategy to stop “a countdown of confrontation,” North Korea said in a statement attributed to its new Foreign Ministry department director general in charge of negotiations with Washington.
The statement said Pompeo’s comments “seriously impaired the signboard of dialogue put up by the U.S. president as a decoy to buy time and create the environment favorable for himself.” It referred to a recent personal letter that President Donald Trump sent to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which North Korea said was aimed at maintaining good relations and offering cooperation in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
Associated Press
You can read more at the link.
Not even a global pandemic is going to deter the North Koreans from testing their ballistic missiles:
North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Sunday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, the latest in a series of projectile launches even as the country is on high alert against the coronavirus.
Both were fired northeastward from the eastern coastal city of Wonsan at 6:10 a.m. within a 20-second interval and flew around 230 kilometers at a maximum altitude of around 30 km, the JCS said, adding that South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are analyzing other specifics.
“In a situation where the entire world is experiencing difficulties due to COVID-19, this kind of military act by North Korea is very inappropriate and we call for an immediate halt,” JCS said.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but on a good note they continue to test only their short range missiles. If they really wanted to take advantage of the current coronavirus crisis they could start testing their longer range systems again.
It would be interesting to see what the U.S. response would be to such a provocation in the middle of this pandemic. Hopefully the North Koreans continue to behave so the U.S., the ROK, and other nations don’t have to deal with two crisis at once.
What I find most interesting about this, is how much more Kim Jong-un’s sister is taking on a leadership role within the regime to include responding to a letter from the U.S. President:
Donald Trump has sent a letter to Kim Jong Un detailing a plan to develop ties, state media reported citing the North Korean leader’s powerful sister, but she warned their good personal relationship is not enough, as a hiatus in disarmament talks drags on.
The statement by Kim Yo Jong came a day after the nuclear-armed North fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Saturday, the latest such action it has taken this year.
“In the letter, he (Trump)… explained his plan to propel the relations between the two countries of the DPRK and the US and expressed his intent to render cooperation in the anti-epidemic work,” an apparent reference to the coronavirus pandemic, Kim Yo Jong said in the statement carried by the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sunday.
A senior administration official confirmed Trump sent a letter to Kim Jong Un, “consistent with his efforts to engage global leaders during the ongoing pandemic”.
“The President looks forward to continued communications with Chairman Kim”, the official said.
While the letter reflects “excellent” ties between the two leaders, Kim Yo Jong warned that broader relations between their two nations are different.
“We try to hope for the day when the relations between the two countries would be as good as the ones between the two top leaders, but it has to be left to time and be watched whether it can actually happen,” the sister said.
AFP
You can read more at the link.
