North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un is receiving treatment after undergoing a cardiovascular procedure earlier in the month but details are sketchy due to the difficulty in getting information from the dictatorship. April 15 is the anniversary of the birth of Korea’s first leader in the communist country, Kim Il Sung, Kim’s grandfather. Kim was not on hand to celebrate due to his condition.
Daily NK, a specialty website run mostly by North Korean defectors say that Kim is resting at a villa in the Mount Kumgang resort county of Hyangsan on the east coast. He had the procedure on April 12th. It is not clear who would take over the country in the event of Kim’s death. His eldest child is only ten years old and it’s not clear if that child could rule in the event of Kim’s death.
The country could be thrown into chaos depending on who is selected to be his successor. Kim had a stroke back in 2008 after which he hastily married in order to gain an heir apparent. The world will be watching as North Korea is a nuclear power and no one wants those weapons to fall into the wrong hands.
Reporting from inside North Korea is notoriously difficult, especially on matters concerning the country’s leadership, given tight controls on information.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, declined to comment on the report.
Kim’s health has deteriorated in recent months due to heavy smoking, obesity and overwork, the Daily NK report said.
“My understanding is that he had been struggling (with cardiovascular problems) since last August but it worsened after repeated visits to Mount Paektu,” a source was quoted as saying, referring to the country’s sacred mountain.
Kim left for the hospital after presiding over a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s politburo on April 11, where Kim was publicly last seen, the report said.
Pyongyang fired multiple short-range missiles last week which Seoul officials said were also part of the Kim Il Sung birthday celebration. Such military events would usually be observed by Kim, but there was no KCNA report on the test at all.