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Alliances with Japan and South Korea critical as US faces uncertainty in North Korea
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON - The flurry of rumours around North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's health - or even his demise - has been a reminder that a heavily armed world is still a dangerous place even without a pandemic.
It has also sparked a useful conversation in Washington, DC on the future of United States-North Korea relations, either under Mr Kim or a successor, who top Korea analysts agree would most likely be his younger sister Kim Yo Jong, 32.
