Intrigue and rumour are swirling once again about the fate of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, with unconfirmed reports of his death or permanent incapacitation leading news bulletins across Asia.
Hong Kong Satellite Television, which claims to have links to a member of the reclusive nation’s ruling clan, reported a ‘very solid source’ had confirmed Kim was dead.
The network said he passed away on Saturday night (local time) in a Pyongyang hospital.
In Japan, weekly news magazine Shukan Gendai asserted its sources were saying the North Korea’s dictator was as good as dead, reporting that failed heart surgery had left him in a permanent vegetative state.
What the world does know is that there have been no sightings of the tubby tyrant since April 11, an absence from the public eye made even more curious by a lack of mentions in official broadcasts out of Pyongyang, where Kim’s announcements and activities are normally a daily staple.
Instead, the Hermit Kingdom’s tightly controlled media focused on marking the 88th anniversary of the birth of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army (KPRA) on April 25 – a celebration at which Kim has previously appeared to review the massed military parade.
Further boosting international speculation is China’s confirmation that it had dispatched a team of doctors and officials to North Korea “to advise on” Kim.
The delegation, led by a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department, left Beijing for North Korea on Thursday, Reuters reported, saying it had confirmed the mission with three sources.
Satellite imagery indicates that Kim Jong Un was likely at his Wonsan compound earlier this week. https://t.co/do75evMgcY #KimJongUn
— 38 North (@38NorthNK) April 25, 2020
And to further cloud whatever is happening in Pyongyang, Time magazine is reporting that a surveillance satellite has captured images of Kim’s private train being prepared to leave his holiday compound on North Korea’s east coast.
That tidbit was neither an implicit confirmation nor denial of the death reports.
“Imagery indicates the train arrived sometime before April 21 and was still present on April 23, when it appeared to be re-positioned for departure,” Pyongyang watchers at the US-based monitoring group 38 North said, adding that “there was no indication when that departure might take place.”
A riddle wrapped in an enigma, the state of Kim’s health became front-page news on April 20, when CNN reported he had died.
US President Donald Trump rejected those accounts two days later, with the story fading.
The post Is Kim Jong-Un dead? Yes, no, maybe – take your pick from a slather of conflicting reports appeared first on The New Daily.
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