Mystery grows over Kim with reports of trains, medical teams

Bloomberg

Global speculation about Kim Jong-un’s health intensified over the weekend, with a flurry of tantalising — and unverified — reports about a visit by a Chinese medical team and movements of the North Korean leader’s armoured train.
China sent a team including doctors and senior diplomats to advise its neighbour and longtime ally, Reuters reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.
Meanwhile, a train resembling one long used by North Korean rulers was parked last week near a coastal leadership compound in Wonsan, according to an analysis of satellite imagery released on Sunday by the website 38 North.
The latest developments shed little immediate light about 36-year-old ruler, who US officials said they were told Kim had been in critical condition after cardiovascular surgery. Kim — a heavy smoker who has gained considerable weight since taking power in 2011 — hasn’t appeared in state media for two weeks, and missed April 15 birthday celebrations for his late grandfather, state founder Kim Il Sung, for the first time.
The episode renews longstanding questions about the stability of a regime built on iron-fisted authority and a cult of personality for Kim, who has no known successor. Health scares have been a common occurrence over the years, and the leader’s medical condition is a closely-guarded subject in one of the world’s most secretive states.
Any leadership change in North Korea could increase the threat of instability on China’s border and raise questions about control of the country’s expanding nuclear arsenal. Kim has also been central to US President Donald Trump’s so far unsuccessful efforts to get him to reduce his weapons stockpile.
The mystery sent journalists, diplomats and non-proliferation experts scouring satellite images, state news outlets and unverified social media feeds for clues about Kim. The hashtag #kimjongundead was the among the top subjects trending globally on Twitter. The name of his younger sister Kim Yo Jong — a potential successor — was also trending in the US.
“Information about the serious state of health of our Marshal Kim Jong-un is false and malicious,” Korean Friendship Association head Alejandro Cao de -Benos said in a tweet. Cao, who was featured in the 2015 documentary “The Propaganda Game,” didn’t say where he got the information and declined further comment when contacted by Bloomberg News.
Kim similarly disappeared from state media for six weeks in 2014, prompting speculation that he had been sidelined by gout, an ankle injury or was even overthrown in a coup. He subsequently showed up walking with a cane during a visit to a new residential block.
A delegation led by a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department — which manages relations with North Korea — departed Beijing last week, Reuters said, adding it wasn’t able to immediately determine what the trip signalled about Kim’s health. Officials with the US National Security Council declined to comment.
Speculation about Kim’s condition accelerated after Seoul-based news site Daily NK, reported that the North Korean leader was recovering from surgery, citing one unidentified person inside the country. CNN reported a short time later that Kim was in “grave danger.”