North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has once again sparked speculation about his health after photographs were released of him meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I don’t know how serious his health condition is, but just seeing it on the TV screen… [he] “He doesn’t look like a healthy man,” Professor Sung-Yun Lee, a research fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, and author of “Sister: Kim Yo-jong and the World’s Most Dangerous Woman,” told Fox News Digital. “But it’s been that way for almost a decade now.”
Former CIA North Korea analyst Sue Mi Terry sparked speculation when she said, “I don’t have a very good impression of Kim Jong Un,” based on footage of the meeting between Kim Jong Un and President Putin in Pyongyang.
“There was a period when he’d lost a little bit of weight and looked better, so my initial reaction was he doesn’t look healthy, because his health is something we track all the time,” Terry said. According to The Hill.
Russia and North Korea promise to defend each other “without delay” in case of invasion, angering South Korea
Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un attend a welcoming ceremony in Pyongyang, North Korea, on June 19, 2024. (Contributor/Getty Images)
Lee agreed with Terry’s assessment, describing the meeting when Kim Jong Un first arrived in a limousine and “hadn’t even walked 30 yards” before getting on an escalator — a slight movement that “allowed you to see and clearly hear Kim Jong Un gasping for air and becoming angry.” [He was] He was still breathing heavily after walking 25 or 30 yards and was still out of breath after they sat down,” Lee said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after a signing ceremony following bilateral talks at the Kumsusan residence in Pyongyang, North Korea, June 19, 2024. (Kristina Kormilitsina/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
But Lee warned that Kim Jong Un has long appeared unhealthy and appeared “morbidly obese” for much of his tenure as the reclusive nation’s supreme leader, and said that even if he looks incredibly unhealthy again after losing weight in 2021, he would likely be in good health thanks to available medical care.
Putin’s AI doctrine explores semi-autonomous military, Moscow may turn to China for help, experts say
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (right) attends a test of a submarine-launched cruise missile with military officials at an undisclosed location in North Korea in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on January 28, 2024. (KCNA via Reuters)
“Kim Jong Un is super rich. He owns the whole country. He’s a medieval absolute monarch, it’s his fief. The health care system throughout the country is in ruins, but Kim Jong Un has a top-notch, excellent medical team,” Lee explained. “Just kidding, but Kim Jong Un has excellent doctors working for him, and their purpose is to make sure he doesn’t collapse the next day.”
Lee noted that Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong Il, and grandfather, Kim Sung Il, died of heart attacks, and spoke at length about Kim’s many vices, including heavy drinking and smoking.
Dozens of North Korean soldiers repeatedly cross the restricted zone into South Korea ahead of Putin’s visit
North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un (center) waves to soldiers and spectators gathered from a balcony during a celebration of the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the country at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, September 9, 2021. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Agency via Associated Press)
2016 Report Parents Kim Jong Un has reportedly gained 90 pounds in the four years since he took power after his father’s death, due to “massive” consumption of food and alcohol to cope with “the constant fear of being assassinated.” The report cites South Korean intelligence as saying Kim weighed 286 pounds at the time.
“Kim was diagnosed with gout in October 2014,” Lee revealed. “She wasn’t seen in public from mid-September to mid-October, and then she started appearing with a cane.”
Kim’s health is also crucial to Putin, who has become increasingly reliant on arms from his allies as the Ukraine war wears down troops on both sides. Reports suggest that North Korea could be sending up to 5 million artillery shells to Russia, judging by the size of a container shipped last week.
Click here to get the FOX News app
“Kim Jong Un knows he now has some influence over President Putin, and he can use this pilgrimage, this extraordinary visit to North Korea, to make this statement,” Lee argued.[It] This shows how the two countries are intertwined in rewriting international law and norms, violating sanctions, and openly denying military complicity.”
“They are sending a message to Washington and other allies that they are doing everything in their power to undermine our partnership, but together we stand firm,” Lee concluded.
