Recent video out of North Korea shows the isolated country’s current despot in seemingly poor health. Kim Jong Un, the hermit kingdom’s th...
Recent video out of North Korea shows the isolated country’s current despot in seemingly poor health.
Kim Jong Un, the hermit kingdom’s third leader from the Kim dynasty, struggled to descend a set of stairs in footage released Tuesday by state-run media. The awkward clip was compared to President Joe Biden’s own struggle with steps.
According to Reuters, North Korean mouthpiece KRT’s 110-minute propaganda piece focused on the country’s military and infrastructure development.
The documentary-style film also celebrated the country’s supposed success in fighting COVID-19, with zero confirmed infections.
However, it’s easy to see that not everyone in North Korea has a clean bill of health.
Eagle-eyed viewers noticed right away that the supreme leader himself seemed to be less-than-spry for someone in his mid-30s with access to top medical care.
And while the propaganda piece claims that Kim is selflessly running his own body into the ground for the good of the Korean people, video of the dictator trying to navigate a set of stairs is, well, Biden-esque.
Parts of the film were uploaded to YouTube and showed Kim riding a horse, reviewing military equipment and struggling to descend a set of stairs.
Oddly, older people in the despot’s entourage didn’t seem to have a problem navigating the steps (which, in all fairness, appear to be boards bolted to a concrete slope). The selected clips, including Kim’s slow and awkward descent, can be seen below:
Kim’s health has been a matter of speculation for Western media for years.
In August, the communist leader was spotted with a large bandage on the back of his head. The location of the patch was seen as suspicious by many, perhaps hinting at surgery or medical tests.
Recently, Kim’s health appears to have taken a nosedive.
Pictures of him seen for the first time earlier this year showed a radical transformation. Severe weight loss and increasingly gaunt features now make the leader virtually unrecognizable compared with images taken years ago.
Making matters worse for the people of North Korea, Kim’s apparently failing health comes at a time when his own children are still too young to take on matters of state.
Among generals and other power brokers who could fight for the top spot in the DPRK is Kim’s reportedly ruthless sister, Kim Yo Jong. Already trading barbs with Western governments, she appears to be a very likely successor.
While Kim Jong Un’s health is still a mystery to all but his closest doctors, it doesn’t take a medical degree to see that something has happened to the North Korean dictator.
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