Amid health worries, Kim's role looms large
The disappearance
TOKYO — New rumors about Kim Jong Un pour i n d a i l y . T h e N o r t h Korean leader is dead. Or he's very i l l . Or maybe he's just recuperating in his luxury compound, or isolating himself from the coronavirus.
As speculation about h i s h e a l t h b u i l d s , a n u n d e r l y i n g q u e s t i o n l ooms f or professional spies, policymakers, academics and curious news consumers alike.
What do we really know about the man who leads North Korea?
T h e a n s w e r i s c r uci a l be c a us e Ki m's i ntentions, and the asy e t - u n k n o w n s t a t e o f h i s h e a l t h , p l a y a n o u t s i z e d r o l e i n t h e workings of Northeast Asia, an uneasy collecti on of wary neighbors at the best of times and home to two of the three b i g g e s t e c o n o mi e s i n t h e wor l d a n d a h u g e b u i l d u p o f A me r i c a n military machinery and manpower.
S a n d w i c h e d a m i d goliaths, North Korea is a small, i mpoverished, e x t r a o r d i n a r i l y p r o u d n a t i o n t h a t t h r o u g h sheer force of will — and a relentless cult of personality built around a single family — has been at the center of a half-century security headache for its neighbors.
The disappearance
There's not much to go on here despite the building media coverage.
S o m e u n c o n f i r m e d news reports say Kim is in fragile condition or even a vegetative state following heart surgery.
T h e S o u t h K o r e a n government, however, maintains that Kim still appears to be i n power and that there have been no signs that something b i g h a s h a p p e n e d i n North Korea.
What's uncontested is that Kim hasn't appeared in public since an April 11 meeting focused on the coronavirus. This sort of vanishing act has happened before, but what has s e t r umors a bl a z e now is that for the first time as leader he missed the most important holiday of the North Korean year, the April 15 celebration of his grandfather's birth.
Ther e h a v e b e e n n o p h o t o g r a p h s a n d n o videos of t he l eader i n nearly three weeks, only st ate media r eports of h i m s e n d i n g w r i t t e n greetings to world leaders or citizens of merit.