North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly in coma
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is reportedly in a state of coma and his sister Kim Yo-jong will be exercising de facto control over national and international matters. Several media reports on Monday said that the US is monitoring intelligence that suggests the North Korean leader is in grave danger after undergoing surgery. Chang Song-min, who served Kim Dae-Jung as a political affairs secretary and as head of the state affairs monitoring office, in a social media post said no North Korean leader would entrust any of his authority to another person unless he was too sick to rule or was removed through a coup.
“I assess him (Kim Jong Un) to be in a coma, but his life has not ended,” he was quoted as saying by The Korea Herald.
“A complete succession structure has not been formed, so Kim Yo-jong is being brought to the fore as the vacuum cannot be maintained for a prolonged period,” he added.
Chang’s claims come months after Kim Jong Un had not made a public appearance amid speculations of his deteriorating health. He was last seen presiding over a Workers’ Party politburo meeting on April 11 before a top security adviser to the South’s President Moon Jae-in downplayed rumours and said Kim Jong Un was “alive and well”.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has wished the North Korean leader "well", amid reports of him undergoing serious surgery.
Trump, however, did not confirm or deny news reports that the North Korean leader was ailing and that his health was in grave danger.
"Well, these are reports that came out, and we don't know. I've had a very good relationship with him. I wish him well because if he is in the kind of condition that the reports say, that the news is saying, that's a very serious condition, as you know,” Trump told reporters during his daily White House news conference on coronavirus.
“I've said it and I've said it many times, if somebody else were in this position, we would've been right now at war with North Korea and we're not at war and we're nowhere close to war with North Korea,” Trump said.
“I just have to say to Kim Jong-un I wish him very good luck.. I mean, they came out with very, very serious medical reports. Nobody's confirmed that. It's was CNN that came out, so when CNN comes out with a report I don't place too much credence in it,” Trump said.
