N. Korea’s Kim triggers health speculation
Print Edition
IN 1993, French neurosurgeon Francois-Xavier Roux received a phone call in Paris from an unidentified North Korean official. The then leader-in-waiting Kim Jong Il suffered a head injury from a horse-riding accident and they wanted his advice.
Fifteen years later the North Koreans contacted him again. This time, it was more urgent. They flew Roux out to Pyongyang in an operation so secret that Roux himself was unaware who his patient would be until he met a frail Kim Jong Il lying in a modern intensive care bed flanked by his doctors.
“They were visibly anxious about the situation — maybe that’s why they asked for a foreign doctor, since I had no problem asking Kim Jong Il questions, or telling him what to do,” said Roux, who also met a young Kim Jong Un, whom he said appeared moved by his father’s deteriorating health.
State media acknowledged for the first time last month that Kim Jong Un, who assumed power in North Korea when his father died in 2011, was suffering from “discomfort” due to unspecified health reasons, prompting speculation over what ails him.
Kim, 31, has not been photographed by official media since appearing at a concert alongside his wife on September 3. Footage from an event with key officials in July showed him walking with a limp.
The time Roux spent in Pyongyang treating Kim Jong Il gives him a near-unparalleled insight for a Westerner into the medical facilities enjoyed by the country’s ruling family.
“The local doctors were quite competent, and during the discussions I had with them, it was exactly as if I was talking to European doctors. They were at the same medical level as I was,” he said. “They had almost everything. They had very good facilities.”
The Kim family’s palaces, sprawling compounds boasting yachts, jet skis and thoroughbred horses, are also equipped with specialized medical centers — and it was at one of these that Kim Jong Il recovered from his stroke.
Curtis Melvin, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, said Kim Jong Un may be recuperating at one of those palaces. “According to imagery released by North Korean media, Kim Jong Un spends a lot of time at the Kangdong and Wonsan family compounds. Each housing complex has suitable medical facilities and would be capable of supporting him,” he said.
This is not the first time Kim Jong Un has been missing from public view. For most of June 2012, six months after coming to power, state media failed to report on or photograph him for 23 days. He resurfaced the next month at a dolphinarium.
He appears to have gained weight in the months following the late 2013 execution of his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, the most recently published photographs show.
Observers speculate Kim’s weight and family background may have contributed to his condition, which could be related to his recent awkward gait.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
