Rumours that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had died of a brain haemorrhage caused a stir across the country and around the world. But no evidence has emerged to support the claims that he had died or fallen into a coma. Meanwhile, North Korea’s state media have published photos of Kim visiting a clothing and shoe exhibition.
They sought to show that the leader is well and carrying on as normal, NDTV reported online. The country released the new photos after unverified claims spread on social media that he had died of a brain haemorrhage. The pictures show Kim touring a clothing and shoe exhibition.
The photos appeared in the state newspaper Rodong Sinmun. A few hours earlier, several popular figures known as opponents of the Chinese Communist Party had claimed, without evidence, that the 42-year-old Kim had died or slipped into a coma.
They also claimed he was being taken to a hospital in Beijing for treatment. One of the published photos shows Kim leaning forward to examine a small pink shoe held by a woman in a light pink outfit.
In another he is seen with both arms spread and his mouth open, apparently speaking to an official present. A third shows Kim reaching for the sleeve of a rust-coloured women’s coat displayed on a mannequin.
Several aides can be seen following behind him. Before the photos of Kim’s public appearance came out, Wanjun Xie, a US-based Chinese dissident linked to the China Democracy Party, made a series of explosive claims on the social media platform X.
He first claimed that Kim had died and that Beijing had sent 9,000 troops to Pyongyang fearing a succession crisis in North Korea. He later alleged that a team of doctors from Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing had been sent to North Korea to treat Kim after a serious brain haemorrhage.
According to his account, the North Korean leader at one point went into a coma and was later taken to Beijing, where doctors failed to save him. He further claimed that Kim’s body had been secretly flown back to North Korea. None of these claims came with any evidence, eyewitness account or independently verifiable information.
Even without evidence, the rumours have raised questions about the future of power in North Korea, and speculation began over whether Kim’s influential sister, Kim Yo Jong, had taken control of the secretive regime. Fears of uncertainty over the succession are not new. With little reliable information about Kim’s health, his absences and reappearances often set off rumours.
The latest death rumours recall an episode in 2020, when Ji Seong-ho, who fled North Korea for South Korea and became a lawmaker, said he was ‘99 percent’ sure Kim had died after heart surgery. Kim was later seen in public.
Ji apologised for his false claim. This time too, no independently verified evidence has come forward to back the reports of his death spreading on social media. The release of the new photos from the exhibition has cast fresh doubt on the rumours. Still, unless the date and setting of the photos can be independently verified, the pictures alone are not enough to draw firm conclusions about his health.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report