It’s the question everyone is asking: Where is Kim Jong-Un? Is he okay?
Kim Jong-Un has disappeared from the public eye again and the international community can’t help but ask whether the dictator is very ill - or worse.
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He’s done it again - Kim Jong-Un has gone missing, sparking new speculation that the North Korean dictator may be dead.
Kim has been missing for the longest period ever, not being seen in public for more than three weeks.
It follows months of Kim dropping in and out of the public eye.
He apparently had a dodgy heart operation months ago. Following that, he was absent for a prolonged period and that led to the first rumours of his death.
But after 20 days of being a no-show, he turned up on May 1 to open a new fertiliser plant before again disappearing from public.
Then, on May 24, Kim reappeared after another three-week absence to discuss putting his nuclear forces on “high alert” amid growing speculation about his health.
But he then vanished again and has not been seen since.
North Korea’s state-controlled media called on its people to rally behind the dictator amid lingering tensions on the peninsula.
It came as the dictator was to have today marked the fourth anniversary of his appointment to chairman of the State Affairs Commission, the highest leadership institution there.
But this year, unlike last year, there were no celebrations with Kim nowhere to be seen.
Specialist North Korea site NK news carried out analysis of the dictator’s appearances and found he has now been absent for the longest period of time over the past three months
Last week Japanese defence minister Taro Kono said his country had “some suspicions” about the health of the periodically missing leader
The country’s defence minister made the bombshell comment at a press briefing and added he thought recent movements in the secretive state were “all very strange”.
Taro said the “very strange movements” in North Korea were because of Kim “trying not to get infected,” as the “virus is spreading around” the country.
North Korea has steadfastly claimed it hasn’t recorded a single virus case, but foreign experts are highly sceptical.
But Japan believes the pandemic worsened economic troubles because the hermit state has closed its border with China, its biggest trading partner and economic pipeline.
All this comes amid strain between the North and the South after defectors based there flew flying balloons to drop anti-regime leaflets.
And despite the coronavirus chaos, North Korea is reportedly bent on achieving a “nuclear war deterrent” to match the US.
The hermit state’s new ambassador to Iran was confirmed in a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani, with both officials reportedly discussing their “common enemy” in Washington.
US President Donald Trump and North Kim last met a year ago and promised to avert a nuclear war breaking out in the Korean peninsula and in Japan.
But in recent months North Korea has returned to conducting short-range missile tests and issuing harsh rhetoric, while Washington shows little interest in easing sanctions.
But some suspect the ratcheting up of tension and Pyonuyang’s announcement of a majorly expanding its nuclear arsenal last week is a distraction ploy because of the dictator’s faltering health.
Originally published as It’s the question everyone is asking: Where is Kim Jong-Un? Is he okay?