Speculation on the “death” of North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-Un continues unabated, with some officials, especially in neighboring South Korea, disputing claims that the isolated nation’s leader was dead or incapacitated.
Speculation about the health of third generation hereditary leader of the Asian nation was ratcheted up a notch this weekend after TMZ reported that he was “on his death bed with no hope for recuperation.”
TMZ has earned a reputation for its unerring accuracy in its reportage of the death of public figures. On Saturday, Senator Lindsey Graham also added to the speculation, saying he would be surprised if Kim was not dead or incapacitated.
Daily NK, a Seoul-based website that relies on anonymous sources inside North Korea, last Monday said that Kim had received a cardiovascular procedure at Hyangsan Hospital, a clinic dedicated to treating the Kim family, on April 12.
The website said Kim was recuperating at a villa near the hospital, which is on the foothill of Mount Mohyang, north of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.
Kim, believed to be 36, has disappeared from coverage in North Korean state media in recent weeks, fueling rumors that he was unwell, with some reports indicating that he might have had heart surgery. The last he disappeared in a similar in 2014, he later resurfaced walking with a noticeable limp.
A special train possibly belonging to the North Korean leader was spotted this week at a resort town in the country, according to satellite images reviewed by a Washington, DC-based North Korea monitoring project, 38 North.
The group said in its report on Saturday the train was parked at the “leadership station”- reserved for the use of the Kim family – in Wonsan on April 21 and April 23.
North Korea’s state media last reported on Kim’s whereabouts when he presided over a meeting on April 11.
Four days later, Kim was absent from the birth anniversary of North Korea’s founding father, his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, on April 15.
Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute in South Korea, told the New York Times that Kim not making an appearance at his grandfather’s mausoleum during the anniversary was “unthinkable” in the country, describing it as “the closest thing to blasphemy in the North”.
Speculation about Kim’s fate has ranged from the bizarre to the absurd. On social media, the North Korean leader was a trending topic worldwide for most of the weekend, as news of his demise became fodder for memes and jokes.
One rumor circulating in South Korean messaging apps claims that after French doctors could not wake Mr. Kim from his “coma,” Kim Pyong-il, a half brother of Mr. Kim’s late father, seized power with the help of pro-Chinese elites in Pyongyang, the North’s capital.
It goes on to say that Mr. Kim’s powerful sister, Kim Yo-jong, has been detained while Beijing is secretly bargaining with Washington over the future of North Korea and its nuclear weapons.
Seoul has questioned the accuracy of the unconfirmed reports, while the South Korean news media appears to dismiss most of them as online rumors spreading through Chinese social media and beyond.
“Our government position is firm,” Moon Chung-in, the top foreign policy adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, told CNN.
“Kim Jong Un is alive and well. He has been staying in the Wonsan area since April 13. No suspicious movements have so far been detected.”
