SK spies say cyst op kept Kim out of public eye
Print Edition
SOUTH Korea’s spy agency said yesterday that it has solved the mystery of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s 6-week public absence, which set off wild speculation around the world.
The National Intelligence Service told legislators that a foreign doctor operated on Kim in September or October to remove a cyst from his right ankle, according to Park Byeong-seok, an aide for opposition lawmaker Shin Kyung-min. The aide said the agency told lawmakers that the cyst could recur because of Kim’s obesity, smoking and heavy public schedule.
After last being seen on state media on September 3, Kim reappeared on October 14 hobbling with a cane.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the information was obtained by the spy agency, which has a mixed record of analyzing developments in North Korea.
The agency also said North Korea has expanded five of its political prisoner camps, including the Yodok camp, which was relocated to the northwest city of Kilchu, according to Lim Dae-seong, an aide to ruling party lawmaker Lee Cheol-woo, who also attended the briefing. The agency believes the camps hold 100,000 prisoners, Lim said.
He said the agency also believes that North Korea recently used a firing squad to execute several people who had been close to Kim Jong Un’s uncle, Jang Song Thaek, who was considered the country’s No. 2 power before his purge and execution in December 2013.
South Korea’s spy agency correctly said that Jang had likely been dismissed from his posts before North Korea officially announced his arrest.
However, it received heavy criticism when its director acknowledged that it had ignored intelligence indicating North Korea’s impending shelling of a South Korean island in 2010.
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