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North Korean Kim Jong Un appears to have lost weight, according to an analysis and experts at NK News. Last year, South Korea’s spy agency said Kim weighed just over 300 pounds, but now he looks slimmer. The scientist closely monitors his weight as it provides insight into his health and the health of the system. See more stories on the Insider Business page.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to have lost some weight after years of massive weight gain, according to North Korea watchers and NK News’ analysis of state media.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Agency, the country’s spy agency, reported in November that Kim weighed just over 300 pounds.
—Martyn Williams (@martyn_williams) February 12, 2021
The South Korean spy service reported that Kim weighed less than 200 pounds when he took power about a decade ago.
Kim is believed to be around 5 feet 7 inches tall, so the North Korean leader, who is rated in his mid-30s, at more than 300 pounds, would be considered very obese and potentially at risk of various health problems.
Last April, during an unexplained absence, it was speculated that Kim was in “grave danger” after surgery, or that he was dead, in a coma or brain-dead.
It turns out Kim was alive and well, but he definitely wasn’t the picture of perfect health. The next photo of Kim in late February or early March this year.
Kim speaks in Pyongyang in a photo released on March 4, 2021. KCNA / via Reuters
The North Korean leader appeared on state-run KCTV on June 5, NK News senior reporter Colin Zwerko noted on Twitter, and expert North Korea watchers indicated he appears to have shed some weight.
—Vipin Narang (@NarangVipin) Jun 5, 2021
NK News analyzed several state media photos of Kim wearing his $12,000 Portofino Automatic watch made by IWC Schaffhausen, and noted that the strap length beyond the buckle appears in recent photos longer than it was last November, suggesting that He was able to wear it tighter on his wrist.
—James Pearson (@pearswick) June 8, 2021
Although this type of analysis is not always an exact science, analysis of images and videos of state media has provided a wealth of information about developments within North Korea, especially the country’s missile and nuclear missile programs.
“You have to use all available resources,” Su Mi Terry, a North Korea expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Insider.
“For a very difficult country like North Korea, where they have such tight control over information, you have to do what you can,” she said, noting the value of open source intelligence.
Kim meets with top party officials, in a photo released on June 8, 2021. KCNA / via Reuters
In recent photos, Kim’s face looks a bit smaller, and his clothes seem to fit a little more than they do in some of the other photos from past events.
Michael Brodka, a US military intelligence officer in South Korea, told NK News: “On the surface, the noticeable weight loss may not mean much, but it could provide clues to other information that intelligence collectors are looking for.”
“It could be a simple issue of healthy lifestyle change or a more complex issue,” he said. “At the moment, we don’t know, but this raises enough serious questions that we should pay attention to events over the next couple of months to find out.”
Kim Jong Un’s weight and related health concerns, as well as his reported affinity for cigarette smoking and heavy drinking, have long been considered risk factors for the North Korean regime, and have fueled much speculation about succession in the man’s case. die suddenly.
Kim at a general meeting of the Workers’ Party Central Committee in Pyongyang, in a photo released February 9, 2021 by the Korean Central News Agency via Reuters.
The perceived fragility of the North Korean leadership, which leads a nuclear-armed state, is cause for at least some level of concern.
“The succession is not at all clear if something will happen to Kim Jong Un,” Terry told Insider. “We know it’s unhealthy. So we need to care” about his weight gain, loss and general health.
In a paragraph of veteran reporter and North Korea expert Anna Fifield’s 2019 book “The Great Heir: The Secret Rise and Rule of Kim Jong Un,” she described the young leader as “looking like a heart attack waiting to happen.” His father, Kim Jong Il, died of a heart attack after apparently suffering a stroke a few years ago.
Terry said leadership health is perhaps “one of the most important indicators” of system stability. As for North Korea, she said, “Kim Jong-un’s health is the biggest wild card.”
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