Kim returns with a smile and a cane
Print Edition
AFTER disappearing from the public eye for nearly six weeks, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is back, ending rumors that he was ill or deposed.
Now, a new mystery has emerged: Why the cane?
Kim, who was last seen publicly at a September 3 concert, appeared in images released by state media yesterday smiling broadly and supporting himself with a walking stick while touring the Wisong Scientists Residential District and another new institute in Pyongyang, part of his regular “field guidance” tours.
North Korea didn’t say when the visit happened, nor did it mention its leader’s health.
Before yesterday, the younger leader missed several high-profile events and was described in an official documentary last month as experiencing “discomfort.”
Archive footage from August showed him overweight and limping, prompting the South Korean media to speculate he had undergone surgery on his ankles.
A South Korean analyst said Kim probably broke his media silence to dispel outside speculation that he wasn’t in control and to win sympathy from a domestic audience by creating the image of a leader who works through pain.
The appearance might be a form of “emotional politics meant to appeal to people’s sympathy,” said Cheong Seong-chang, at the Sejong Institute in South Korea.
It was the first time a North Korean leader allowed himself to be seen relying on a cane or crutch, South Korean officials said.
Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, who reportedly suffered a stroke in 2008 before dying in 2011, was seen limping but never with a walking stick, nor was the country’s founder and Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, said Lim Byeong Cheol, a spokesman for Seoul’s Unification Ministry.
Cheong said Kim appeared to have lost about 10 kilograms compared with pictures from May. He speculated that since Kim was holding a cane on his left side he may have had surgery on his left ankle.
Kim “appears to want to show people that he’s doing fine. If he hadn’t done so, excessive speculation would have continued to flare up, anxiety among North Korean residents would have grown and calls by outsiders for contingency plans on dealing with North Korea would have gained momentum,” Cheong said.
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