Seoul: North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, reappeared in dramatic fashion this weekend when he was shown on North Korean media after three weeks of an unexplained absence, cutting the ribbon on a fertilizer factory — and quieting rumours that he was gravely ill.
But those weeks of hand-wringing over Kim’s fate, and North Korea’s future, showed again how little the world knows about what’s happening in the opaque, nuclear-armed country, and how vulnerable it is to misinformation about it.
It seems that Kim is alive and well, after all. On Saturday, North Korean state media released photos and video footage of him smiling, chatting and walking before a large crowd at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which it said took place on Friday.
Such reports are almost impossible to confirm. But after the photos appeared, South Korea — which had repeatedly insisted there was “nothing unusual” happening in the North — issued a strong rebuke about the various news reports that had suggested Kim was in peril.
Still, Kim’s reappearance did nothing to explain the three-week absence from public view that led to the rumors, not least why he missed the important April 15 state ceremonies for the birth anniversary of his grandfather Kim Il-sung, North Korea’s founder.
And the speculation about Kim’s well-being — some reports had him in a “vegetative state” after botched heart surgery — brought home an alarming fact: that the world simply doesn’t know what would happen to the North and its nuclear arsenal should he suddenly die or become incapacitated.
Unlike his grandfather and his father, Kim Jong Il, both of whom spent years grooming their chosen sons as successors, Kim, 36, has no heir apparent. He is said to have three children, all too young to govern; his younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, has become a trusted aide, but there is scepticism that the North’s elderly generals would answer to a young woman.
Outside analysts fear that if Kim suddenly died, the country’s dozens of nuclear devices would be at the center of a messy, cutthroat contest for power.
Some analysts think China would intervene to secure the North’s nuclear facilities and install a new leader to its liking, should Kim’s rule end. But others are sceptical about its ability to do so, given the deep-rooted distrust that has shadowed the countries’ alliance.
Choe Sang-Hun c.2020 The New York Times Company
Comments
0 comment