Tag: North Korea

Here is the latest on the health of Kim Jong-un from ROK intelligence:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears not to have undergone surgery, a presidential official said Sunday, flatly denying speculation over Kim’s health.

“There were media reports speculating about Chairman Kim’s surgery, citing a change in the way he walks,” a senior Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters, saying the presidential office judges this not to be true.

When asked whether the North Korean leader did not even go through a relatively moderate medical procedure, the official replied yes.

The official, who asked not to be named, however, refused to unveil the grounds that this judgment was made upon.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I still think if he had anything done maybe it was a minor surgery such as on his ankle again or maybe they scoped his knee. These are simple surgeries that he would want time to recover from so he is not seen limping around.

Does anyone believe this excuse from the ROK military that the North Koreans unintentionally fired at a guard post because of the fog?:

 Several gunshots from North Korea hit a South Korean guard post inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on Sunday, prompting the South to fire back, but the North’s firings do not appear to have been intentional, an official said.

South Korean soldiers on guard duty at the unit in the central border town of Cheorwon heard gunshots at around 7:41 a.m. and found four bullet marks on a wall of the guard post, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In accordance with the response manual, the military then fired a total of 20 shots in response — 10 rounds each time — and issued broadcast warnings, it added. No casualties or damage to South Korean facilities were reported. 

It is not known if North Korea sustained any damage. 

“We also sent a notice to the North Korean side via the inter-Korean communication line at around 9:35 a.m., and called for its explanation,” a JCS officer said. 

North Korea has given no response yet. 

The military is closely looking into the incident to learn more details by analyzing pieces of evidence, including shells found at the scene, as well as the North’s motivations for the firing. It does not appear to be an intentional provocation, according to the officer. 

“It was quite foggy and the North Korean soldiers usually rotate shifts around that time,” the JCS officer said, adding that no unusual movements by the North’s military have been detected.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the only way I can see the fog being a factor is that a North Korean soldier tripped over something and did not have his weapon on safe and it just happened to hit the ROK guard post. And this just happened to occur a day after Kim Jong-un made his first appearance in 20 days.

As I have been saying, let this play out because these so called experts declaring him dead don’t really know what is going on with something as sensitive as Kim Jong-un’s health:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a fertilizer factory completion ceremony, state media reported Saturday, his first public appearance after 20 days of absence that sparked rumors about his health.

The official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim cut the tape at the ceremony marking the completion of Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory in Sunchon, north of Pyongyang, on Friday.

Photos released by KCNA showed Kim, dressed in a dark Mao suit, cutting the red ribbon during the ceremony and talking to accompanying officials with a smile on his face. They did not show any signs of an illness.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but my speculation was that he may have had some follow up surgery on his bad ankle that limited his mobility. Kim Jong-un is not the type of person that is going to go out and make a public appearance with crutches. According to the report Kim looked healthy and moving around just fine.

Here is what Taiwan’s intelligence chief had to say about the health status of Kim Jong-un:

Taiwan’s intelligence chief said Thursday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is “sick” but remains in control of the nuclear-armed nation.

Chiu Kuo-cheng, director of the National Security Bureau (NSB), said the North has contingency plans in the event of Kim’s sudden death, according to local reports.

The director revealed this at a government hearing by legislators. 

“My answer is from the intelligence that is available and it is not an opinion,” Chiu said.

He laughed and refused to reply when asked if Kim was alive, the report said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The only problem with the proposed Inter-Korean Railway project is that the North Koreans have not agreed to it yet. However, I suspect that this will be part of an effort to restart tourism to the Kumgang Resort in North Korea that the Moon administration will eventually try to circumvent sanctions to do if they are not dropped by the time this railway extension is completed:

The South Korean government on Monday held a ceremony to reconnect its railroad system to the North’s, marking the second anniversary of the inter-Korean summit at Panmunjom in 2018. 

South Korea’s railway on its eastern coast, called the Northern East Sea Line, will be extended by a total of 110.9 kilometers (69 miles) from its current northernmost point in Gangneung all the way to Jaejin Station in Goseong County, Gangwon, the last stop on South Korean territory below the military demarcation line with the North.

Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, who led the ceremony, in an opening address called the construction of the railway a “Korean Peninsula New Deal” project meant to “inaugurate a new age in which the continent meets the ocean.”

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Congratulations to the Korean Unification Minister for creating a new word, “infodemic”:

Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul on Tuesday rejected unconfirmed reports of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s illness as “fake news” and “infodemic,” insisting he can say confidently there have been no unusual signs in the communist state.

Speculation about Kim’s health spiked after he skipped an annual visit to the mausoleum of his grandfather Kim Il-sung on the late national founder’s April 15 birth anniversary, the North’s most important national holiday.

Media reports have since speculated that Kim might be seriously ill, but Seoul officials have disputed the reports, repeatedly saying there are no unusual signs found in North Korea and that Kim is believed to be staying in the country’s eastern coastal town of Wonsan.

“It can be seen as a phenomenon of infodemic,” Minister Kim said during a parliamentary foreign affairs committee meeting, referring to a recent deluge of unfounded rumors about the leader’s heath. “We have intelligence capacity that allows us to say confidently that there are no unusual signs.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The statement mentions nothing about his health, but instead thanks workers building a special tourism area:

 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed his gratitude to workers building a tourist zone in the east coast region of Wonsan, state media said Monday, amid reports his special train is parked at the area amid persisting speculation about his health.

“Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un has sent his appreciation to the workers who devoted themselves to building the Wonsan-Kalma tourist zone,” the Rodong Sinmun, the North’s main newspaper, said. The Korean Central Broadcasting Station carried a similar report.

Later in the day, the state-run Korean Central News Agency also reported that Kim sent a congratulatory telegram message to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.