Speculations over North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s health not true, no sign of heart surgery: South Korean spy agency
South Korea’s spy agency National Intelligence Service (NIS) on Wednesday (April 6) strongly rejected rynours that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is unwell and has undergone heart surgery, asserting that he is ruling the communist nation as usual.
During a closed-door briefing to lawmakers, NIS said that Kim has appeared in public 17 times in 2020, which is the fewest ever, becuase he is spending more time on domestic issues and the impact of the outbreak of coronavirus COVID-19.
“At least, it is judged that Kim did not receive surgery or a medical procedure related to his heart,” Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the ruling Democratic Party told the media.
Speculations over Kim’s health started doing the rounds after he failed to attend an annual event marking the April 15 birth anniversary of his late grandfather Kim Il-sung. But Kim was spotted at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a fertilizer factory on Saturday ending all rumours about his well-being.
According to NIS, Kim is not battling any heart ailment and addd that even a mild procedure to treat any heart disease would take four to five weeks of rehabilitation.
“Even when Kim did not appear in public, he was managing state affairs as usual,” the NIS was quoted as saying.
The South Korean spy agency, however, did not rule out the possibility of the coronavirus outbreak in North Korea.
“North Korea has stuck to the stance of no infections but given that there were vibrant human exchanges with China before the border closure in January, we cannot exclude the possibility of the coronavirus outbreak in the North,” the NIS noted.
