Kim Jong-un made his first public appearance since September 3. His absence for over a month produced numerous speculations over his health and conflicts among North Korea ruling establishment.
Latest photos of Kim
published by the country’s official media show him with a walking
stick. He can be seen surrounded by North Korean officials
and smiling in images captured off of state television, according
to Reuters. Still, there was one notable change: the mysterious
leader is also shown using a cane to support himself and walk
during his highly publicized tour.
News and photos of Kim’s appearance tampered speculation – for
now, at least – that the North Korean leader had been gravely ill, pushed into hiding due to battling
factions, or deposed and replaced with another leader entirely.
Front page of Tuesday's Rodong Sinmun with photos of smiling Kim Jong Un walking with cane. #DPRK#VOAalertpic.twitter.com/C6vA4kDoGC
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) October 13, 2014
Since Kim had previously gone on numerous tours to various
facilities, the fact that he simply stopped making public
appearances in early September sparked speculation all over the
world over his whereabouts.
In early October, Vice News ran a story in which former senior
North Korean official Jang Jin-sung – who served under previous
dictator Kim Jong-il – said the country is actually experiencing
a civil war between factions that want to continue exerting
complete control of the economy and those who want to open it up,
however slightly.
“On one hand, it’s people who want to maintain a regime
monopoly,” Jang said. “On the other hand, it’s not like
people are fighting against the regime, but in a policy sense
they want to take advantage to get influence. It’s not actually
consciously civil war, but there are these two incompatible
forces at play.”
In another story, it was suggested that Kim’s sister, Kim
Yo-jong, had actually replaced her brother as the country’s top
leader and has avoided the spotlight.
“As a woman in a very male-dominated society, the theory
goes, she might be reluctant to push herself forward publicly
straight away, preferring instead to bide her time while
governing from behind the scenes,” John Everard, a former UK
ambassador to North Korea, said to the Guardian just last week.
I've cropped one of the Rodong Sinmun photos to show close-up of Kim Jong Un walking with a cane. #DPRKpic.twitter.com/IeMwZV2DUL
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) October 13, 2014
Meanwhile, other reports have sidestepped the possibility of a
coup and focused on health. Various outlets have suggested that
Kim is suffering from diabetes, heart problems, and, among other
things, gout. Even Saturday Night Live got involved in the
speculation suggesting that Kim broke his ankle “while
dunking over Michael Jordan.”
After Kim missed an important celebration earlier this month, an
anonymous source told Reuters that the leader had actually
injured his leg while participating in a military drill.
“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,” the source
said. “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.”