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Kim Jong Un may have missed an important anniversary on April 15 because of concerns about the crown and not because he is ill, the South Korean minister said in connection with North Korean affairs today.
The absence of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un from the public ceremonies on the anniversary of the birth of his grandfather and founder of the country’s Kim Il Sung regime is unprecedented and has not made a public appearance since. This has generated speculation about his health. South Korean officials say unusual movements have not been identified in North Korea and are encouraged to be wary of reports of a possible Kim’s illness.
North Korea has said it has no confirmed cases of coronavirus, but as the country has taken very strict steps to prevent an epidemic, Kim’s absence from public ceremonies is not uncommon, lawmaker Kim Jong-un told lawmakers. chul, overseeing contacts with North Korea.
“It is true that Kim Il Sung’s birth anniversary has never been lost since he took office, but many anniversary events, including celebrations and a formal dinner, have been canceled due to concerns about the coronation,” he said. Kim Jong-chul in Parliament. He added that there have been at least two incidents since mid-January in which Kim Jong Un had not made a public appearance for nearly 20 days. “I don’t find this particularly unusual given the current situation (with the crown).”
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, hinted yesterday that he was aware of Kim Jong Un’s health and wished him the best, but did not elaborate. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he is aware of Kim’s health reports and is closely monitoring developments.
North Korea canceled some major events, closed its borders, and quarantined in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
However, if Kim Jong Un were to hide his fears about COVID-19, this “would perplex the rhetoric of state media about the perfect handling of this crisis,” said Chad O’Carrollo, CEO of the Korea Risk Group. North Korean monitoring. “If I just tried to avoid infection, it would theoretically be very easy to post photos or videos of a healthy-looking Kim,” he said.
Life indications
A leading US intelligence source said yesterday that it was “absolutely possible” that Kim had disappeared from public life to avoid exposure to COVID-19 and that the fact that his presidential train had been seen at the Wonson coastal complex. it did indicate that it may have been or was there recently. The same source said that while there was no reliable evidence to support such a conclusion, US agencies were still considering the possibility that Kim was ill, possibly seriously.
38 North, a Washington-based group that monitors Pyongyang, said Saturday that satellite images from last week showed that a special train belonging to Kim was at Wonson, citing reports that the North Korean leader at this resort, while the North Korea’s state media has not mentioned Kim Jong Un’s whereabouts since he took office on April 11, they have almost daily reports that he is sending diplomatic letters and messages.
This suggests that he continues to carry out his duties, South Korea’s Unification Minister Kim said, although some experts believe this is not necessarily proof.
“I agree with the assessment by the South Korean government that there is no reason to think that Kim Jong Un is not doing his job,” said Rachel Mingung Lee, a former North Korean intelligence analyst on behalf of the US government. United. Given this, I wouldn’t take the letters signed by Kim Jong Un seriously. I guess most of them aren’t written by him anyway. “
With information from ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ / Reuters
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