Kim Jong Un in grave condition after surgery, North Korea, Apr 2020

[Portabella]

We will eventually find out. I cannot wish ill on a whole country due to their government. If Covid is running rampant there and being denied, I really do hope the average people, the poor people, the oppressed people fare well being far from the city. JMHO

 

[joejs89]

Unfortunately these cruel, oppressive buggers have a tendency to pull through and return. Still one can hope.

 

[Tillicum]

I hope I'm wrong but I fear if this woman steps into power, her brother's reign will look tame in comparison.

With Kim Jong Un’s health uncertain, focus shifts to powerful sister Kim Yo Jong

But she’s still been active enough behind the scenes to suggest she would serve with an iron fist. Like other North Korea officials, she was blacklisted by the US Treasury Department in 2017 for “severe human rights abuses.”

Yo Jong has a reputation for aggressively pushing North Korea propaganda and was among the officials who have worked to enact “rigid censorship policies and conceals its inhumane and oppressive behavior,” the department said at the time.

“Among the North’s power elite, Kim Yo Jong has the highest chance to inherit power, and I think that possibility is more than 90%,” an analyst told the Associated Press.

 

[BUF]

Kim Jong-un’s Absence and North Korea’s Silence Keep Rumor Mill Churning

 

[MassGuy]

I hope I'm wrong but I fear if this woman steps into power, her brother's reign will look tame in comparison.

With Kim Jong Un’s health uncertain, focus shifts to powerful sister Kim Yo Jong

But she’s still been active enough behind the scenes to suggest she would serve with an iron fist. Like other North Korea officials, she was blacklisted by the US Treasury Department in 2017 for “severe human rights abuses.”

Yo Jong has a reputation for aggressively pushing North Korea propaganda and was among the officials who have worked to enact “rigid censorship policies and conceals its inhumane and oppressive behavior,” the department said at the time.

“Among the North’s power elite, Kim Yo Jong has the highest chance to inherit power, and I think that possibility is more than 90%,” an analyst told the Associated Press.

I agree. Because they are so patriarchal, she’s probably going to have to be incredibly ruthless. She’s going to have a lot more to prove than her brother did.

 

[Catmommy]

That's an awful legacy to live up to, truly awful

 

[MassGuy]

Kim Jong Un is 'alive and well' despite mounting speculation, South Korea says - CNN

CNN)South Korea continued to pour water on mounting speculation about the health of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, telling CNN he is "alive and well."

"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."

Questions were raised about Kim's well-being after he missed the celebration of his grandfather's birthday on April 15. He had been seen four days before that at a politburo meeting, according to North Korean state media, KCNA.

CNN reported earlier in the week that the United States is monitoring intelligence that Kim is "in grave danger after a surgery," according to a US official. Another US official told CNN Monday that the concerns about Kim's health are credible, but their severity is hard to assess.

It followed a report by Daily NK, an online newspaper based in South Korea that focuses on North Korea, that Kim reportedly received a cardiovascular procedure because of "excessive smoking, obesity, and overwork." It added that the leader is now receiving treatment in a villa in Hyangsan County.

After assessing that Kim's condition had improved, most of the medical team treating him returned to Pyongyang on April 19 while some of them remained to oversee his recovery, according to the news site. CNN is unable to independently confirm the report.

 

[Jax49]

https://nypost.com/2020/04/26/panic-buying-grips-north-korea-amid-rumors-of-kim-jong-uns-demise/

Residents in the North Korean capital have resorted to panic-buying amid reports that controversial leader Kim Jong Un is gravely ill or dead, according to a report.

 

[BUF]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...9b9770-873e-11ea-81a3-9690c9881111_story.html

Is the talk about Kim Jong Un being sick — or worse — true? Pyongyang is abuzz, too.

Having published a biography of Kim, I’ve been bombarded with questions over the past week about whether the whispers are true.

I’m always very cautious with these kinds of rumors, given the number of times they’ve turned out to be wrong. The short answer right now is: I don’t know. None of us will know until either North Korea tells us or he waddles back into view.

This time, however, the rumors feel different. The talk that Kim Jong Un had some kind of heart surgery has had a stubborn persistence, making the real question his condition.

Some analysts agree that this time it seems like more than the usual scuttlebutt.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Great headline

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un rumored to be dead, brain dead or just fine

https://nypost.com/2020/04/25/north-korean-dictator-kim-jong-un-rumored-to-be-dead/

 

[TMAN2014]

IMO, Kim Jong Un is outahere, and the Chinese are calling the shots soon, if not already. They already sent their medical "advisors" there. We are probably on a 2 week delay with the real news.

 

[thejeangenie]

He's been out of the picture for weeks at a time before. But this one does feel different, though.

 

[LadyL]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...9b9770-873e-11ea-81a3-9690c9881111_story.html

Is the talk about Kim Jong Un being sick — or worse — true? Pyongyang is abuzz, too.

Having published a biography of Kim, I’ve been bombarded with questions over the past week about whether the whispers are true.

I’m always very cautious with these kinds of rumors, given the number of times they’ve turned out to be wrong. The short answer right now is: I don’t know. None of us will know until either North Korea tells us or he waddles back into view.

This time, however, the rumors feel different. The talk that Kim Jong Un had some kind of heart surgery has had a stubborn persistence, making the real question his condition.

Some analysts agree that this time it seems like more than the usual scuttlebutt.

I like that writer. I might have to download her book.

 

[watergirl62]

I like that writer. I might have to download her book.

Its an excellent read.

 

[Kaie]

I'm torn between two theories here. One... he died on the operating table, and they have been stalling, while they figure out what to do next, ever since. No vegetative state, just beep... beep... beep... beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep
Or two... despite the claim that North Korea has had no Covid 19 cases, reality could be that it's rampant, and Kim Jong-un is simply self-isolating. North Korea has everything riding on protecting their head of state, but would never admit having an out of control pandemic due to their horrendously ill-equiped health facilities. So that's why, if he's alive and well, his hiding out would all have to be so cloak and dagger (like everything else in North Korea). If this scenario is correct, I doubt we'd see his face again until the pandemic no longer poses a threat there. That could take a really long time for a country that's ill-equipped to manage it.

 

[Errrr]

IMO, Kim Jong Un is outahere, and the Chinese are calling the shots soon, if not already. They already sent their medical "advisors" there. We are probably on a 2 week delay with the real news.

Do you think China is trying to decide if they want that prison camp or not? They abandoned it years ago and it’s only gotten worse.

 

[Errrr]

But I thought North Korea had absolutely no cases of COVID 19. Per their reports if anyone truly believed them.

How would they know? They would get shot if they were able to make a phone call saying so.

 

[Errrr]

UPDATE: N. Korea’s Kim Jong Un may have skipped town just to avoid virus

Why would he leave the only place in North Korea that has almost continuous electrical power?

 

[BUF]

https://nypost.com/2020/04/27/north-korea-shares-letter-from-kim-jong-un-to-south-african-president/

North Korea shares letter from Kim Jong Un to South African president dated today

 

[BUF]

I'm torn between two theories here. One... he died on the operating table, and they have been stalling, while they figure out what to do next, ever since. No vegetative state, just beep... beep... beep... beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep
Or two... despite the claim that North Korea has had no Covid 19 cases, reality could be that it's rampant, and Kim Jong-un is simply self-isolating. North Korea has everything riding on protecting their head of state, but would never admit having an out of control pandemic due to their horrendously ill-equiped health facilities. So that's why, if he's alive and well, his hiding out would all have to be so cloak and dagger (like everything else in North Korea). If this scenario is correct, I doubt we'd see his face again until the pandemic no longer poses a threat there. That could take a really long time for a country that's ill-equipped to manage it.

Opinion | What Is the Coronavirus Doing to North Korea?

What Is the Coronavirus Doing to North Korea?

There are no cases here, Kim Jong-un’s government claims, while acting as if its survival were at stake.