KIM JONG-UN ‘DEAD’ – North Korean Leader Has Reportedly Died, Says Hong Kong TV
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in ‘vegetative sate’, according to reports
According to reports in Asia, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is in a “vegetative” state after fears about his health. However it follows earlier reports he is recovering well
North Korea‘s leader Kim Jong-un is in a “vegetative” state, according to reports in Asia, as speculation about his health intensifies.
Fears have been mounting over the health of the rogue communist leader in recent weeks after reports his health had declined.
China ‘sends experts to advise on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s health’
A visit by Chinese doctors and officials comes amid conflicting reports about the health of the North Korean leader
The Hermit Kingdom is notoriously secretive, so his condition remains a mystery and is so far unconfirmed.
But according to the Taiwan News, citing reports in Japan, Kim is currently in a “vegetative state”.
The report adds he is in this condition because of an alleged failure of initial surgery on him.
However, earlier reports had suggested he was recovering well
China has dispatched a team to North Korea including medical experts to advise on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to three people familiar with the situation.
The trip by the Chinese doctors and officials comes amid conflicting reports about the health of the North Korean leader. Reuters was unable to immediately determine what the trip by the Chinese team signalled in terms of Mr Kim’s health.
- Read more: Kim Jong-un: who would be his successor?
A delegation led by a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department left Beijing for North Korea on Thursday, two of the people said. The department is the main Chinese body dealing with neighbouring North Korea.
The sources declined to be identified, given the sensitivity of the matter.
The Liaison Department could not be reached by Reuters for comment late on Friday. China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment late on Friday.
Daily NK, a Seoul-based website, reported earlier this week that Mr Kim was recovering after undergoing a cardiovascular procedure on April 12. It cited one unnamed source in North Korea.
South Korean government officials and a Chinese official with the Liaison Department challenged subsequent reports suggesting that Mr Kim was in grave danger after surgery. South Korean officials said they had detected no signs of unusual activity in North Korea.
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump also downplayed earlier reports that Mr Kim was gravely ill. “I think the report was incorrect,” Mr Trump told reporters, but he declined to say if he had been in touch with North Korean officials.
On Friday, a South Korean source told Reuters their intelligence was that Mr Kim was alive and would likely make an appearance soon. The person said he did not have any comment on Mr Kim’s current condition or any Chinese involvement.
An official familiar with US intelligence said that Mr Kim was known to have health problems but they had no reason to conclude he was seriously ill or unable eventually to reappear in public.
A US State department spokeswoman had no comment. US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, when asked about Mr Kim’s health on Fox News after Mr Trump spoke said: “I don’t have anything I can share with you tonight, but the American people should know we’re watching the situation very keenly.”
North Korea is one of the world’s most isolated and secretive countries, and the health of its leaders is treated as a matter of state security. Reuters has not been able to independently confirm any details on Mr Kim’s whereabouts or condition.
North Korea’s state media last reported on Mr Kim’s whereabouts when he presided over a meeting on April 11. State media did not report that he was in attendance at an event to mark the birthday of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, on April 15, an important anniversary in North Korea.
Mr Kim, believed to be 36, has disappeared from coverage in North Korean state media before. In 2014, he vanished for more than a month and North Korean state TV later showed him walking with a limp. Speculation about his health has been fanned by his heavy smoking, apparent weight gain since taking power and family history of cardiovascular problems.
When Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong Il, suffered a stroke in 2008, South Korean media reported at the time that Chinese doctors were involved in his treatment along with French physicians.
Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping made the first state visit in 14 years by a Chinese leader to North Korea, an impoverished state that depends on Beijing for economic and diplomatic support.
China is North Korea’s chief ally and the economic lifeline for a country hard-hit by UN sanctions, and has a keen interest in the stability of the country with which it shares a long, porous border.
Mr Kim is a third-generation hereditary leader who came to power after his father Kim Jong Il died in 2011 from a heart attack. He has visited China four times since 2018.
Mr Trump held unprecedented summits with Mr Kim in 2018 and 2019 as part of a bid to persuade him to give up North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.
Alternate report
NORTH KOREAN leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly died, though the news has not yet been confirmed by North Korea or the United States.
Hong Kong Satellite Television is reporting that the leader of the hermit kingdom has died.
The Beijing-backed news outlet TV, who’s vice director is also a niece of a Chinese foreign minister, confirmed that Kim Jong Un has died.
The Vice director of HKSTV has also told her more than 15 million followers on Chinese social media website Weibo that his death claim was backed by a “very solid source.”
Reuters revealed that China has sent doctors to the closed-off country to investigate the claims, his sister is next inline to take the throne if the North Korean leader dies.
North Korean soldiers
Photos have circulated on social media showing the North Korean leader ‘lying in state’ – though it is not yet known if the photos are real.
Washington said it was ‘monitoring intelligence’ that the North Korean dictator was at death’s door following cardiovascular surgery, a US official claimed earlier this week.
Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo-Jong will takeover as leader if the North Korean leader dies.
She is a North Korean politician and is the youngest daughter of former supreme leader Kim Jong-il.
Yo-Jong is a member of the Politburo and vice director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers’
The North Korean leader was recently noticeably absent during a celebration of his grandfather’s birthday on April 15, raising widespread questions over his health.
Initial reports stated that he had been seen four days to prior to that, at a government meeting, yet confusion shrouded the mystery of his whereabouts, with North Korean officials and state-run media remaining typically tight-lipped.
Following the CNBC’s coverage of the fresh intelligence claims made by the US official, several markets have been affected, with Koreans both in the North and South waiting anxiously for news.
An earlier report from Reuters citing South Korean media website, Daily NK, as saying that Jong Un was receiving treatment after undergoing a cardiovascular procedure on April 12, also contributed to market drops.
The uncertainty of the situation and “what a potential new regime might look like” is weighing on markets, Bank of America’s Securities’ Adarsh Sinha said.
“The first thing the (foreign exchange) market does is price in higher risk premium, which means a weaker currency, or a weaker Korean won.
“Many other currencies in Asia have also buckled under the possibility of the North Korean leader’s death”, he added.
Also
Even as China has sent in a medical team to North Korea to advise the leader, a Beijing-backed satellite TV channel’s vice director, who is also a niece of a Chinese foreign minister, has claimed that Kim Jong Un is dead.
Vice director of HKSTV Hong Kong Satellite Television told her 15 million followers on Weibo that her Kim Jong Un death claim was backed by a “very solid source.”
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