Tag: North Korea

Celebrity gossip sight TMZ has now jumped on the Kim Jong-un story by speculating that he has died:

North Korea’s Supreme Leader/dictator Kim Jong-un has reportedly died, or is on his death bed with no hope for recuperation — according to media outlets in China and Japan.

Amid reports China has sent a medical team to their communist neighbors this week to check in/advise on Kim, a Hong Kong-backed news channel’s vice director — who’s apparently the niece of a Chinese foreign minister — blasted out the news herself … he’s dead. TMZ has not confirmed that.

The woman put the report on a social media app called Weibo for her nearly 15 million followers to read, citing a “very solid source” about the claim Kim had, in fact, perished. A Japanese magazine reports he’s in a “vegetative state” after a heart surgery gone wrong.

The outlet reports — citing a Chinese medical expert privy to the situation — that Kim had clutched his chest in early April and fell down while visiting the countryside there. He needed a stent procedure done, but apparently … it either wasn’t done rapidly enough, or it was botched completely by the surgeon — with some reports saying he had shaky hands.

TMZ via a reader tip

You can read more at the link, but I would be very skeptical of the story that is sourced from a Weibo posting. Here is what the Korean media is reporting:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stayed out of public sight Saturday, as the reclusive nation’s tightly controlled media focused their coverage on the founding anniversary of its armed forces.

They have carried no report of Kim’s public activity since April 11, sparking speculation that the 36-year-old might be critically ill.

Pyongyang‘s propaganda outlets instead hyped the 88th anniversary of the birth of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army (KPRA) that falls on April 25.

Korea Herald

Here is what the Japanese media is reporting:

Back in 1986, the South Korean media reported that Kim Il Sung had died in a coup d’etat, fatally shot by a senior officer of the North Korean Army.

The source of this shocking news, which turned out to be false, was said to have been a U.S. intelligence officer who misunderstood an intercepted Pyongyang Broadcasting Station report.

And now, what is really going on?

According to a colleague of mine stationed in Seoul, the Blue House denies rumors of Kim Jong Un’s health crisis, noting the South Korean government is “not aware of any irregular developments (in Pyongyang).”

However, my colleague also told me the prevalent view in South Korea now is that Kim very likely had some kind of cardiac surgery.

Asahi Shimbun

The longer that Kim Jong-un does not make an appearance the more likely he has had a surgery of some kind done. Remember that last time this happened he had ankle surgery so this reported current health issue could be a further complication of that prior surgery. I think everyone just needs to let this thing play out a little bit longer before declaring he has died.

It is very hard to determine what is really going on in North Korea based off of all these anonymously sourced reports; so recommend caution about drawing any definitive conclusions:

China sent a team that included health-care experts to North Korea to advise on the country’s leader Kim Jong Un, Reuters reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.

The move comes amid reports that Kim was in critical condition after undergoing cardiovascular surgery. U.S. officials said Monday they were told Kim’s condition was critical after the surgery, though they were unsure of his current health. President Donald Trump on Thursday cast doubt on the report about the North Korean leader.

Bloomberg

You can read more at the link.

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. 

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.

Korea Times

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.

There is an interesting interview in the Korea Times with one of the North Korean restaurant workers that defected to South Korea back in 2016 I recommend everyone read:

The big question that so many have been asking: Did everyone want to escape?

A: It seems like a clear question, but the answer isn’t clear. Not all employees working at the Chinese restaurant wanted to come to South Korea. 

The context is that the work in China was tougher than we had expected. We had good situations in North Korea, so we were often openly wondering why we were working so hard; it was not as golden as it had been presented to us in North Korea. Therefore, most of us agreed to seek better working conditions in a different country.

We were not ignorant about the outside world. When I was in North Korea, I certainly knew about the possibility of escaping to South Korea, and from what I knew about the others, they did too. But we all had good lives in North Korea; why should we go to South Korea?

In discussing seeking better working conditions, about six or seven employees left. That group took taxis to the North Korean embassy to make it clear they were not participating in an escape.

Korea Times

You can read the rest of the interview at the link, but I also found it very interesting that she never met the Minbyun lawyers that were claiming that the North Koreans were kidnapped and wanted to go back.

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.