Speculation about the condition of 36-year-old North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un has swirled since he didn’t show up to his grandfather, Kim Il-Sung’s birthday celebration April 15, a major national holiday to honor the hermit nation’s founder. Then rumors surfaced about Kim needing urgent heart surgery after years of smoking and obesity at some undisclosed hospital reserved only for the Kim family. Then more conjecture that the rumored “stent” procedure went terribly wrong because his surgeon was so “nervous” performing the procedure. President Donald Trump, 73, dismissed the media speculation April 23 saying he had no credible information on the friend, Kim, with whom he met three times over the last three years, once in North Korea. But the longer Kim disappears, the more rampant speculation, prompting remarks yesterday from 64-year-old Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
Graham said April 25 that it’s inconceivable the Democratic Peoples Republic of North Korea [DPRK] would let the speculation swirl about Kim’s condition unless something grave took place. “Well, it’s a closed society, I don’t know anything directly,” Graham said. “But I’d be shocked if he’s not dead or in some incapacitated state because you don’t let rumors like this go forever or unanswered in a closed society, which is really a cult, not a country, called North Korea.” Graham said a mouthful but doesn’t add anything to the rampant speculation about Kim’s whereabouts. New satellite imagery shows Kim’s bullet-proof train parked at his seaside resort on North Korea’s east coast. No movements have been detected but it indicates that there’s been no recent movements. “So I pretty well believe he is dead or incapacitated,” Graham told Fox News, fueling more speculation about succession.
Kim’s 31-year-old younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, is rumored to succeed Kim, even though there’s nor formal succession plan. She’s seen a cunning, ruthless, opportunistic, every bit a chip off the family’s block. Whether she actually succeeds Kim in event, as Graham says, death or incapacitation, is anyone’s guess. What’s known for sure is that Kim disappeared off the radar over 10 days ago, fueling wild speculation. North Korea’s vociferous state-run mouthpiece Korean Central News Agency [KCNA], usually responds quickly to any minor world event, has been noticeably silent about Kim. Reuters reported April 25 that China dispatched a medical team to North Korea to assist in Kim’s cardiac procedure. Hong Kong HKSTV, a Beijing-based TV station, reported that Kim was in a vegetative state. That same report was corroborated by Japanese magazine Shukan Gendai April 25.
South Korean officials say there’s nothing that indicates that something grave has happened to Kim. They’re looking for any military movements or chatter on spy satellites that monitor activity inside the secretive Stalinist state. “The train’s presence does not prove the whereabouts of the North Korean leader or indicate anything about Kim’s potential health problems, and they echo South Korean government intelligence that Kim is staying at an elite area on the country eastern coast,” South Korean said. Graham’s instincts could very well be right but, there’s no way to verify Kim’s condition until KCNA makes an official announcement. That wouldn’t happen until his sister, Kim Yo-jong was sworn in as the next DPRK leader. So far, no word from KCNA, continuing to fuel speculation that Kim is dead or in a vegetative state as reported by Hong Kong HKSTV and Japanese Shukan Gendai magazine.
Reports by Reuters, April 25, indicate that the Chinese Communist Party International Liaison Department departed for North Korea, bringing medical experts to deal with what looks like Kim’s health crisis in North Korea. Shukan Gendai’s report was the most detailed, talking about how the surgeon installing the stent was nervous dealing with an obese patient, leading to delays that left Kim in a vegetative state or coma. Shukan Gendai cited an unnamed member of Kim’s medical team for the report. Shukan Gendai’s report was far more specific than Hong Kong’s HKSTV report that Kim was in a vegetative state. South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency detected “no unusual activity” last Tuesday, old news for today’s latest information. While it’s impossible to verify Shukan Gendai’s report or Hong Kong’s HKSTV, multiple media sources report the same thing.
Kim’s disability or death doesn’t necessarily herald any major changes in world’s last Stalinist state. Kim’s dynastic family has enslaved 25.5 million people, exploited the country’s resources for their own hedonistic behavior. With the world’s largest stockpile of Rolls Royces, Beluga caviar, Dom Perignon champagne and Cuban cigars, Kim clearly has bad habits. If Kim suffered a heart attack or arterial blockage it’s not hard to figure out why. Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen., John Hyen said April 23 he has “no reason not to assume” that Kim Jong-un is not in control of his country, something that says little about multiple media reports. Trump said April 24 that reports about Kim were “incorrect,” but supplied no new information. “I’m hearing they [the media] used old documents,” Trump said at his daily coronvirus briefing. More overlapping reports all tend to confirm the same thing.
