The Internet is abundant with speculations about the health of Kim Jong-un. What triggered the rumours was his absence from the Day of the Sun celebrations on April 15 marking the birth anniversary of Kim Il-sung, his grandfather and the founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK that is popularly called North Korea). This is the first time Mr. Kim is missing the Day of the Sun festivities, the most important holiday in North Korea, since becoming leader in 2011 after his father’s death. Mr. Kim was last seen in the state media on April 12 when he visited an air force base. On April 11, he had attended a Polit Bureau meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang, the capital city.
The first bomb was dropped by Daily NK, a Seoul-based media outlet largely run by North Korean defectors, on April 20. It claimed, quoting anonymous sources in North Korea, that Mr. Kim underwent a cardiovascular surgery and was recovering at one of his countryside villas. Following the Daily NK story, Japanese magazine Shukan Gendai reported last week that Mr. Kim had a heart attack and the North Korean doctors did an emergency surgery to insert arterial stents. The procedure went bad, leaving the leader brain dead, the report claimed, quoting an unnamed Chinese medical source. On April 25, Reuters carried a report, saying China had despatched a team, including medical personnel, to North Korea to “advise” Mr. Kim.
Not the first time
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