S. Korea, China play down rumour of Kim's ill health
Seoul detects no unusual activity in N. Korea after its leader's heart surgery on April 12
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A screen at a Seoul station yesterday showing a broadcast of a report featuring North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who had heart surgery on April 12.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Chang May Choon South Korea Correspondent In Seoul, Chang May Choon
South Korea and China have downplayed speculation about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's health, sparked by media reports suggesting that his life could be in "grave danger" after surgery.
Seoul-based online newspaper Daily NK said yesterday that Mr Kim is now recuperating at a family villa in the mountainous Hyangsan county, north-east of Pyongyang, after undergoing heart surgery at a local hospital on April 12.
A source told Daily NK that he may have required surgery owing to various factors, including obesity, smoking and overwork.
CNN then cited a US official as saying that they were monitoring intelligence suggesting that Mr Kim was in "grave danger" after surgery.
South Korea's presidential Blue House said, however, that "there has been no unusual activity detected in North Korea", and that "we have nothing to confirm" about claims of Mr Kim's ill health.
In China, an official with the Chinese Communist Party's international liaison department, which deals with North Korea, told Reuters that Mr Kim was not believed to be critically ill.
Concern about Mr Kim's health has grown since he failed to attend the April 15 birthday celebration of his grandfather, North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung.
It was the first time that the 36-year-old Mr Kim did not show up at the annual ceremony held at Kumsusan Palace of The Sun to honour his grandfather since he assumed power in 2011.
He was also conspicuously absent when Pyongyang fired multiple short-range missiles on Tuesday last week.
The North Korean leader was reportedly last seen publicly on April 11, presiding over a meeting of the politburo of the ruling Workers' Party.
A photo released a day later by the state-owned Korean Central News Agency showed Mr Kim dressed in a white shirt, laughing as he inspected military planes in the country's western area.
Daily NK cited a source as saying that a helicopter was spotted leaving Pyongyang on April 12, along with a car used exclusively by Mr Kim.
The source also said that he had suffered from inflammation of blood vessels connected to the heart since August last year, and his condition worsened after making multiple trips to Mount Baekdu.
The highest peak in the North is deemed sacred by many Koreans as it is believed to be the nation's birth place. It is also said to be the birthplace of Mr Kim's late father, Mr Kim Jong Il.
Reports said Mr Kim last scaled the mountain in December.
Speculation about his health also raised questions about succession in the ultra-secretive country, with experts pointing to Mr Kim's younger sister Yo Jong as a likely de facto leader if he ended up comatose or dead.
The North has never had a female leader. However, Dr Bong Young-shik of Yonsei University noted that Ms Kim is her brother's most-trusted confidante and was recently promoted to a position as an alternate politburo member.
"Anointing Kim Yo Jong as the successor might meet with surprise and possible resistance from the political elites but, at the same time, North Korea's system is critically hinged upon the Mount Baekdu bloodline - so it will be either Kim Yo Jong replacing Kim Jong Un, or Kim Jong Il's half-brother Kim Pyong Il," he told The Straits Times.
For now, though, Dr Bong thinks the North Korean leader is just recuperating from a low-risk heart operation. He said: "It's not a life-and-death situation. Kim Jong Un would not have risked going to Hyangsan if the surgery was serious, knowing the best doctors and medical facilities are in Pyongyang."
