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Post by Admin on May 2, 2020 22:43:52 GMT
It’s all in the wrist — at least when it comes to figuring out what happened to the suddenly undead Kim Jong Un of North Korea. State media released footage Saturday of the portly 38-year-old dictator riding an electric cart around the Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer factory with a new, mysterious mark on his wrist, NK News reported. Information about the video and the mark on Kim’s wrist was very limited. A US medical professional told NK News that the small mark might signal a recent cardiovascular procedure, possibly a right, radial artery puncture. Newly published photos and video showed a smiling North Korean leader Kim Jong Un strolling around a factory Friday, ending a nearly three-week absence from public view that fueled rumors of his death. Mr. Kim, all in black and wearing no face mask, was shown cutting a red ribbon at a fertilizer plant in Sunchon, about 30 miles north of Pyongyang. He was flanked by aides, including his sister, Kim Yo Jong. In another image the 36-year-old Mr. Kim sat on a podium in front of a large sign displaying the factory’s name and the date May 1, 2020. Close Pyongyang watchers said the photos appeared authentic, and that they hoped to see video for further confirmation of Mr. Kim’s health. That came later Saturday, when the official Korean Central Television network showed footage of the visit, featuring Mr. Kim walking without major impairment—as well as a shot of him seated, a cigarette in hand. The Daily NK, a Seoul-based publication that bases most of its reports on testimony from North Korean defectors and other sources inside the country, reported last week that Kim might have been recovering from surgery at a coastal resort. It reported Friday that something may have gone wrong for him healthwise “due to either excessive drinking or overwork.”
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Post by Admin on May 3, 2020 19:09:25 GMT
North and South Korea have exchanged gunfire in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) which divides the two countries. Seoul's military said shots from the North hit a guard post in the central border town of Cheorwon. It said it returned fire and delivered a warning announcement. Such incidents across the world's most heavily fortified border are rare. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told US media the shots from the North were believed to be "accidental". Meanwhile South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted a government official as saying the shots were not likely to have been intentional. No injuries were reported in the incident. Military officials in the South say there was no sign of unusual troop movements. The timing is interesting. It's just 24 hours since the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un re-appeared after a 21-day absence. There have also been a large number of military drills in the North in recent months to improve readiness to fight an "actual war", according to state media. Pyongyang has sometimes used the tactic of escalate to de-escalate, using its military posturing as leverage in later negotiations. But any sign of direct fire will be a disappointment to many in South Korea. There has been a lot of work in the last two years to ease tensions between the two countries after President Moon Jae-in met Kim Jong-un. The two sides signed a military agreement - any deliberate shots fired would breach that pact.
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Post by Admin on May 3, 2020 22:40:41 GMT
Images of Kim Jong-un’s first public appearance since speculation of his ill health emerged show the North Korean dictator with a distinct puncture mark on his wrist. State media broadcast vision yesterday of Kim, 36, touring a newly completed fertiliser plant some 20 days after he vanished, sparking rumours that he was either dead or incapacitated. Footage of Kim's visit to the factory in Suncheon appears to show a small wound on his right wrist – a mark which was not present on his previous public appearance on April 11. According to NK News, a US-funded outlet known for its reliable insight into the rogue state, medical experts have assessed the clip and believe the puncture wound is related to a “cardiovascular procedure”. “It looks like a right radial artery puncture … often used for access to the coronary arteries for stent placement,” an American-trained medical professional told NK News, adding it appeared to be “about a week old.” “It is hard to tell from the foreshortening of the photograph, but it seems a bit medial. It is not an IV (intravenous), which wouldn’t leave such a mark.” A South Korea surgeon also told NK News that the mark on Kim’s arm “looks more plausible to be a procedure or check-up mark from a procedure on a heart-related issue.”
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Post by Admin on May 4, 2020 19:32:48 GMT
A former senior North Korean diplomat has apologised after saying Kim Jong-un was probably so ill he could not stand, days before he emerged on state media smoking and walking briskly at an event attended by hundreds of officials. Kim disappeared from state media for three weeks, an unusually long time, leading to concerns over the nuclear-armed state in the event of an unexpected succession. High-profile defectors from the country speculated that Kim was suffering from a grave illness or could even be dead. North Korean media on Saturday broadcast video of Kim during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the inauguration of a fertiliser plant. One of the defectors, Thae Yong-ho, former deputy ambassador to Britain and one of two defectors elected to the South Korean parliament last month, on Monday issued an apology for his claims. “I am aware that one of the reasons why many of you voted for me as a lawmaker is with the expectations of an accurate analysis and projections on North Korean issues,” he said in a statement. “I feel the blame and heavy responsibility.“ “Whatever the reasons, I apologise to everyone.“ The other prominent defector elected to parliament for the opposition, Ji Seong-ho, had said in a media interview he was 99% certain that Kim had died after cardiovascular surgery and an official announcement would come as soon as Saturday. “I have pondered on myself for the past few days, and felt the weight of the position that I’m in,” Ji said in a statement. “As a public figure, I will behave carefully going forward.“ Ji had told Reuters on Friday he had received information about Kim’s death from a source he could not disclose. The blunders highlight the difficulty of getting reliable information on North Korea. The secretive country has for decades kept tight control on information, and news on the health and whereabouts of its leader are shared with only a handful of most trusted aides.
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Post by Admin on May 5, 2020 19:02:18 GMT
Photos of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un at a public event have sparked wild theories that it could have been a body double. State-run media on Saturday released images and video of the 36-year-old Hermit Kingdom leader at a ribbon-cutting function — dispelling escalating rumors that he was either dying or even already dead. The photos have instead raised suspicion that a lookalike could have been there in his place — with web sleuths noting discrepancies in facial, hairline and dental features when compared with previous appearances. It is a “well-known fact that Kim uses body doubles,” the International Business Times (IBT) says — and the Sun in 2017 posted video seemingly showing the dictator chatting with some of them. Human rights activist Jennifer Zeng was the first to draw attention to dissimilarities between the two “versions” of Kim, including differences in their teeth and ears, according to IBT. “Is the Kim Jong-un appearing on May 1 the real one?” she asked on Twitter along with side-by-side comparisons of Kim’s “old and new” appearances in two separate posts.
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