N. Korea鈥檚 Kim has leg injury but in control
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NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong Un is in firm control of his government but has hurt his leg, a source with access to North Korea’s leadership said yesterday, playing down speculation over the 31-year-old’s health and grip on power.
North Korea’s state media, which usually chronicles Kim’s whereabouts in great detail, has not made any mention of his activities since he attended a concert with his wife on September 3.
The source said that Kim hurt his leg while inspecting military exercises.
“He ordered all the generals to take part in drills and he took part, too. They were crawling and running and rolling around, and he pulled a tendon,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
“He injured his ankle and knee around late August or early September while drilling because he is overweight. He limped around in the beginning but the injury worsened.”
Kim, who has rapidly gained weight since coming to power after his father died of a heart attack in 2011, had been seen walking with a limp since an event with key officials in July, which would imply he may have aggravated an earlier injury.
Kim needs about 100 days to recuperate, said the source.
“Kim Jong Un is in total control,” added the source, who has close ties to Pyongyang.
North Korean officials have denied that Kim’s public absence is health-related and a United States official following North Korea said this week there were no indications that he was seriously ill or in political trouble. It remains unclear why a leg injury would keep Kim out of the public eye for so long, although this is not the first time he has been missing from public view.
In June 2012, six months after coming to power, state media failed to report on or photograph him for 23 days.
He re-surfaced the next month at a dolphinarium.
Speculation that Kim’s unusually long absence from public view may be due to ill health was fuelled by a TV report late last month that said he was suffering from “discomfort.”
Some Pyongyang watchers also suggest that Kim may have been sidelined in a power struggle, a scenario they say was reinforced by the unexpected visit last Saturday of a high-level delegation to the closing ceremony of the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
The source with knowledge of Kim’s health said rumors of a coup were “rubbish.”
Kim was absent from a September 25 meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly, or parliament, the first he has not attended since coming to power three years ago.
However, Kim’s name has not disappeared from state propaganda. Yesterday’s edition of the Workers’ Party newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, carried three letters to Kim from overseas allies on its front page.
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