North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un Is Reportedly Sick, May Have Gout
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who didn't show up in a meeting at Pyongyang's parliament for the first time since his father's death, is sick, according to North Korean authorities. Kim, known to be one of the world's most ruthless dictators, has gained weight and is reportedly under extreme stress.
North Korean authorities admitted Friday for the first time that the nation's 31-year-old leader was suffering from an "uncomfortable physical condition," according to The Guardian.
"We expected to see him at the Supreme People's Assembly, because he had attended that session every time," CNN quoted Yoo Ho-Yeol, a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University in Seoul, as saying. "So we are speculating that he might have problems in his health."
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Some believe he is suffering from gout.
North Korean state television recently showed Kim walking with a slight limp. In the documentary aired Thursday, the narrator said: "The wealth and prosperity of our socialism is thanks to the painstaking efforts of our marshal, who keeps lighting the path for the people, like the flicker of a flame, despite suffering discomfort," according to The Washington Post.
Kim was last seen on Sept. 4 at a concert with his wife. North Korea's state-run news agency, KCNA, regularly feature Kim's public appearances, but its count about his public appearances went from 24 events in July to 16 in August, according to CNN. It came down to just one event this month thus far.
Some reports suggest that the Swiss-educated leader got ill as a result of eating too much imported cheese. Others speculate that security concerns could be a possible factor.
"Another reason why Kim may be reluctant to appear in public is the ongoing power struggle inside the North Korean military, which means that the situation in Pyongyang is still unstable," The Daily Telegraph quoted Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Tokyo's Waseda University, as saying.
Kim became the supreme leader of North Korea after his father died in December 2011.
North Korea has been a brutal dictatorship, ruled by one party, the Korea Worker's Party, and led by one family, the Kims, since its formation in 1948. There are at least 100,000 Christians in that nation's harsh prison camps, where prisoners face torture, forced labor and possible execution, Christian groups say.
Earlier this month, North Korea allowed The Associated Press and CNN to speak to three detained Americans, including Christians Kenneth Bae and Jeffery Fowle. All three said there's hope only if a high-ranking U.S. representative visits for negotiations. Bae complained of deteriorating health.
Bae, sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government, remains in a labor camp, where he was moved from a hospital in January. Bae, who was arrested in the city of Rajin on Nov. 3, 2012, continues to be the longest-serving American detainee in North Korea since the end of the war in 1953.
