It is rather unlikely that speculations about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's grave illness or even death are true, as the country appears to be carrying on as usual and shows no signs indicating that something exceptionally serious happened to him, James Edward Hoare, former senior UK diplomat in Pyongyang and research associate at London's School of Oriental and African Studies, told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th April, 2020) It is rather unlikely that speculations about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's grave illness or even death are true, as the country appears to be carrying on as usual and shows no signs indicating that something exceptionally serious happened to him, James Edward Hoare, former senior UK diplomat in Pyongyang and research associate at London's school of Oriental and African Studies, told Sputnik.
Numerous reports have emerged about alleged problems with Kim's health following a publication of the Daily NK, a Seoul-based news website run by North Korean defectors, last week that the leader was being treated after undergoing a heart-related surgery. The article has triggered a frenzy of speculation about Kim's health, possible death and likely successor.
The original article by Daily NK News simply reported that the North Korean leader underwent a heart injury, and their latest publication also denies that he was gravely ill or dead, Hoare stressed.
"The rest seems to be rumour and wild speculation. I find it hard to believe that if there was a serious problem, things would just carry on as normal, with tv programmes etc going out as usual," the diplomat, who served as charge d'affaires in Pyongyang after the UK and North Korea reestablished diplomatic ties, said.
However, commenting on Kim's statement in which he thanked workers who are building a tourist zone in the Wonsan region, which was published earlier today by the Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper, the diplomat said that "messages are easy to send and cannot be considered as personal, whatever signature they carry."
He underlined that such disappearances of North Korean leaders from the public eye for a while were not unusual and were rarely explained, for example when Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un's father and previous supreme leader of the country, was absent from important public events for a while in 2008 after supposedly having a stroke.
"Quite why there has been such a media frenzy this time is not clear. Perhaps people assume that things are different now from the past. Kim Jong Un has met the US President etc. No journalist wants to be left behind on the story, if story there is," Hoare noted.�
Therefore, one should hardly expect any formal announcement if rumors are false and Kim is not dead or incapacitated, he stressed.
"If he was dead, it would probably be announced after a delay while things are sorted out behind the scenes. Then, gradually, the signs would begin � stopping of entertainment, solemn music etc. None of that yet, just rumours," Hoare concluded.
Kim Jong Un missed the ceremony on April 15 marking the birthday of his late grandfather and North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, one of the major public events in the country, and has been missing from the public eye since.
