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SEOUL: A former North Korean diplomat apologized on Monday (May 4) after saying that leader Kim Jong-un was probably so sick he couldn’t bear it, days before he emerged on the state-run media chain smoking and walking. vigorously at an event attended by hundreds of officials
Kim disappeared from state media for three weeks, an unusually long time, sparking a lot of speculation about his health and whereabouts, and he worried about the state’s prospects for nuclear weapons in the event of an unexpected succession.
But on Saturday, North Korean media published photos and videos of Kim at a fertilizer plant opening ceremony.
His revival was a severe blow to the credibility of some high-profile defectors from the North who had speculated that Kim suffered from a serious illness or might even be dead.
One of the defectors, Thae Yong-ho, was North Korea’s deputy ambassador to Britain, where he administered secret funds for Kim.
Thae fled to South Korea in 2016 and was one of two defectors elected to parliament last month.
“I am aware that one of the reasons why many of you voted for me as a legislator is with the expectation of accurate analysis and projections on North Korea’s problems,” Thae said in a statement. “I feel the guilt and the great responsibility.”
“Whatever the reasons, I apologize to everyone.”
The other prominent defector elected to parliament, Ji Seong-ho, had said in a media interview that he was 99% certain that Kim had died after cardiovascular surgery and that an official announcement would arrive on Saturday.
Daily NK, a Seoul-based media outlet with sources within North Korea, reported in April that Kim was recovering from a cardiovascular procedure.
Ji, who was invited to attend U.S. President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in 2018, did not respond to a request for comment, but issued a statement to apologize.
“I have reflected on myself in the past few days and felt the weight of the position I am in,” Ji said.
“As a public figure, I will behave carefully in the future.”
Ji told Reuters on Friday that he received information about Kim’s death from a source that he could not reveal.
South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party criticized the couple for carelessness and said their mistake could cause more serious harm than simply misinforming the public.
One party member urged that they be excluded from the intelligence and defense committees, while another said the defectors made little contribution to South Korean society.
A group of activists filed a complaint with prosecutors accusing Thae, Ji and the main opposition party chief of spreading false information.
Ji’s party acknowledged that it had made “reckless and careless” comments, but criticized the ruling party for undermining the two and “instigating hatred” towards them.
The errors highlight the difficulty in obtaining reliable information on reserved North Korea.
Thae wrote in her memoirs that when former leader Kim Jong Il died in 2011, even the foreign minister had no idea until ministry staff were called to see an advertisement in the state media.
North Korea has maintained tight control over information for decades, and its leader’s health and whereabouts are top secrets that are shared only with a handful of the most trusted aides, said Cho Tae-yong, a former national security adviser. from South Korea.
“It is a problem that even major government agencies cannot know unless they have a ‘Deep Throat’ type of source among those aides,” said Cho, who was also elected to parliament as a member of Ji’s party.
The South Korean government, which had called for caution over Kim’s health speculation and said it saw no signs that anything serious had happened, gathers information from various sources, including US spy agencies and satellite imagery, Kim Hong said -kyun, a former nuclear envoy from South Korea. .
“It is effectively impossible for deserters to verify the truth, although they can be useful in verifying how the organization to which they previously belonged would function in such a contingency,” said Kim Hong-kyun.
“In any case, there is no ‘99% certainty, ‘and numbers are never given no matter how reliable your information is.” – Reuters
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