Yet again the news from Pyongyang is both disconcerting and vague. Yet again North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is rumoured to be seriously ill or dead. Kim went missing from public view on 11 April and has not yet reappeared. It was an abrupt disappearance after several public engagements and ample news coverage at the beginning of the month.
Experts remain puzzled. On 14 April, just a few days after his disappearance, North Korea tested various missile platforms – something only Kim would have the authority to do. But as Harry Kazianis, Senior Director of Korean Studies at the Center for the National Interest, observes, he missed the birthday celebrations for his grandfather Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea, the following day. ‘That is a big deal,’ Kazianis says. ‘This a national holiday equivalent to Christmas in the west – in which Kim Jong-un would be Santa Claus.’
The Western media continues to be obsessed with every development out of Pyongyang, whether it actually happened or not.
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