South Korea’s spy agency says Kim Jong Un has lost up to £44

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Kim Jong Un was losing weight, and now we have an idea of ​​how much he weighs. South Korea’s spy agency believes Kim lost up to £44. Kim’s health and weight matter to the intelligence services because they speak to the health of the regime. Something is loading.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has lost a lot of weight, possibly over 40 pounds, according to South Korea’s spy agency.

Bloomberg reported that the National Intelligence Service believed Kim had lost 10 to 20 kilograms (22 to 44 pounds).

The intelligence agency said in November that Kim weighed just over 300 pounds. When the young dictator took power about a decade ago, the intelligence service estimated he weighed just under 200 pounds.

—Martyn Williams (@martyn_williams) February 12, 2021

Kim is said to be around 5 feet 7 inches tall, so at over 300 pounds the North Korean leader, who is said to be in his mid-30s, is considered obese and potentially at risk of a variety of health problems. The danger is even greater given his affinity for frequent smoking and heavy drinking, not to mention the intense pressure to run a brutal regime that faces significant international pressure due to illegal weapons programs and human rights abuses.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during a general meeting of the Workers’ Party Central Committee in Pyongyang, North Korea in this photo provided by the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 9, 2021 KCNA via Reuters.

In the 2019 book The Great Heir: The Secret Rise and Reign of Kim Jong-un, veteran reporter and North Korea expert Anna Fifield described the young leader as “looking like a heart attack waiting to happen.”

But after a decade of massive weight gain, his weight now appears to be dropping.

Insider, citing an analysis by NK News, reported in June that Kim appeared to be losing weight. In the photos, his face looked smaller, his clothes loose, and he was clearly able to strap his $12,000 Portofino Automatic made by IWC Schaffhausen more tightly to his wrist.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a meeting with senior officials from the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) and regional party committees in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this undated photo released June 8, 2021 by North Korea Central News. Agency (KCNA). Korean Central News Agency / via Reuters

A few weeks later, North Korean state media reported that some in North Korea were concerned about Kim’s weight loss.

“Seeing the esteemed Secretary-General (Kim Jong-un) looking emaciated breaks the hearts of our people a lot,” a Pyongyang resident said during the Korean Central Television. “Everyone says their tears are flooded.”

Although the noticeably thin Kim was likely the result of an illness, the South Korean lawmaker who discussed the intelligence community’s view of the situation said there did not appear to be any health abnormalities, Bloomberg reported.

Specifically, the deputy said, there is nothing strange in his way of walking, nor has he stopped having “meetings that lasted for hours.”

Kim’s health, including his weight, is under much scrutiny from the intelligence community as it provides insight into the health and stability of the North Korean regime, particularly given the uncertainty surrounding succession if the regime’s third leader dies at a young age.

“The succession is not entirely clear if something will happen to Kim Jong Un,” Su Mi Tere, an expert on North Korea at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, previously told Insider. “We know it’s unhealthy. So we need to care” about his weight gain, loss and general health.

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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