The South Korean government on Tuesday was looking into U.S. media reports saying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was in fragile condition after surgery.

Officials from South Korea’s Unification Ministry and National Intelligence Service said they couldn’t immediately confirm the report. CNN cited an anonymous U.S. official who said Kim was in “grave danger” after an unspecified surgery.

The Unification Ministry, which deals with inter-Korean affairs, said it couldn’t confirm another report by Daily NK, which cited anonymous sources to report that Kim was recovering from heart surgery in the capital Pyongyang and that his condition was improving.

Speculation about Kim’s health was raised after he missed the celebration of his late grandfather and state founder Kim Il Sung on April 15.

Credible information about North Korea and especially its leadership is difficult to obtain and even intelligence agencies have been wrong about its inner workings in the past.

The sooner that SOB reaches room temperature, the better.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un deliberately faked his death to expose traitors in his circle and who had hopes of taking power from the leader's "death", reports claimed.

Sky News Australia has said that Kim, 36, may have deliberately pretended to be dead so that he could figure out if there were leaks in his inner circle in North Korea.

Kim disappeared from state media for three weeks, sparking wild rumours about his health and whereabouts, and worry about prospects for the nuclear-armed state in the event of an unexpected succession.

Those rumours were squashed on Saturday when North Korean media published photographs and video of Kim at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the inauguration of a fertiliser plant.

Sky Outsiders host James Morrow told Australian viewers that Kim Jong may have been pulling a “classic Stalinist manoeuvre” to see what the public’s response was.

It is now possible that the leader will use the responses from his long period of absence to begin “purging” those he believes colluded to take over.

The leader’s reappearance into the spotlight has ruined the credibility of high profile defectors who had suggested Kim Jong was suffering from a life-threatening illness or had died.

His re-emergence came as a blow to the credibility of some high-profile defectors from the North who had speculated that Kim was suffering from a grave illness or could even be dead, the report added.

One of the defectors, Thae Yong-ho, was North Korea's deputy ambassador to Britain, where he managed secret funds for Kim. Thae fled to South Korea in 2016 and was one of a pair of defectors elected to parliament last month.

"I am aware that one of the reasons why many of you voted for me as a lawmaker is with the expectations of an accurate analysis and projections on North Korean issues," Thae said in a statement. "I feel the blame and heavy responsibility."

"Whatever the reasons, I apologise to everyone."

The other prominent defector elected to parliament, Ji Seong-ho, had said in a media interview he was 99% certain that Kim had died after cardiovascular surgery and an official announcement would come as soon as Saturday....

Here we go again. Who is ready for a fresh round of speculation that North Korea’s lil’ Rocketman, Kim Jong-un is in a coma? Tongues are wagging again thanks to Chang Song-min, the former aide to South Korea’s late president Kim Dae-jung, for some comments he made that were published Sunday.



It is easy to believe that this is some standard propaganda coming from the Hermit Kindom, given the actions that have been reported over the past few days. Lil’ Kim likes to keep us guessing about the workings of his dictatorship. North Korea is locked down so tight that the outside world is in the dark about the country. Perhaps some information from North Korea was fed to Chang Song-min and he is using it to reach his conclusions.

On August 20, Kim Jong-un delegated part of his authority to his close aides, including his younger sister Yo-jong, to have them oversee state affairs, according to South Korea’s spy agency. The move is said to have been done to relieve stress on the North Korean dictator. He’s still in charge, you see, but the transfer of power is tricky. Kim Jong-un doesn’t have a plan in place and hasn’t named a successor should he die. Kim Jong-un gave the majority of the delegated power to his little sis but not over the economy. South Korean spies confirm that his 33-year-old sibling now serves as his “de facto second-in-command.”



Kim Jong-un has only been seen a few times this year and rumors have circulated that he suffers from a botched heart operation. On August 21, a seemingly healthy Kim acknowledged his plans to improve the country’s dismal economy haven’t succeeded. His ruling party scheduled a rare congress in January to set development goals for the next five years. It is highly unusual that Kim admitted economic failure.



The South Korean agency, the National Intelligence Service, which has a mixed track record in reading developments in North Korea’s secretive ruling elite, held a closed-door meeting Thursday. Lawmaker Ha Tae-keung said the agency assured them that Kim Jong-un is in good health and in charge. Kim Byung-kee, another lawmaker who attended the briefing thinks North Korea’s foreign currency reserves are being depleted rapidly because of the coronavirus. North Korea has experienced prolonged border controls under its anti-virus campaign which has shutdown construction and other projects.

So, by Sunday, the rumor mill was in full swing. To believe that Kim is in a coma, you’d have to believe that the dictator went from good health to a comatose state in a matter of a couple of days. It’s possible but unlikely, given every time Kim Jong-un is reported to be on his death bed, it turns out to not be true. It’s some kind of sick game he’s playing with the outside world. At the time he delivered his confession about the poor economy, he vowed to keep the borders closed (I thought the country was already sealed-up tight) and said he’ll refuse any outside help.

Maybe he is having problems due to heart disease and he experienced a botched surgery. We likely won’t know for a while, if ever, what is happening. Back in April when his alleged heart surgery was first reported, Kim Jong-un was out of the public’s eye for several weeks, only to resurface to tour a fertilizer factory. His absence was never explained.