'One image even featured a very conspicuous date, because that’s how they do life-confirming propaganda in North Korea'
He’s alive! Photo: Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty Images A few weeks ago, conflicting reports emerged calling the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un into question. He was in bad shape — and potentially at death’s door in a vegetative state — after undergoing heart surgery, according to intelligence community sources within the Trump administration. Other sources said the obese, 36-year-old heavy smoker was at a Wonson resort recovering from a cardiovascular operation.
The lack of a new or recent picture was worth thousands of words. Amid all the speculation regarding the fate of Kim, who no one had seen in weeks, articles came out examining who would take over the world’s most troublesome nuclear power if he were dead, President Trump teased knowing something about the leader’s health, and some experts on the regime concluded something was afoot — while others shook their heads.
Whatever reason Kim was out of sight, it was not because he had shuffled off his mortal coil, if the allegedly new images of the leader at a fertilizer-factory ribbon cutting on May 1, which were released by North Korean state media on Saturday, are to be believed: One image even featured a very conspicuous date, because that’s how they do life-confirming propaganda in North Korea:
Regarding the reception the leader was alive to hear at the ceremony, the North Korean media report twice mentioned “thundering cheers.” But there was no video. And for anyone who has enjoyed following the case of the missing Kim, it’s still not clear why he skipped his grandfather’s parade — and new photos mean new clues to decipher:
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