SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean chief Kim Jong Un has regained weight and seems to have obesity-related well being issues similar to hypertension and diabetes, and his officers are in search of new medicines overseas to deal with them, South Korea’s spy company informed lawmakers on Monday.
The 40-year-old Kim, identified for heavy consuming and smoking, comes from a household with a historical past of coronary heart issues. Each his father and grandfather, who dominated North Korea earlier than his 2011 inheritance of energy, died of coronary heart points.
Some observers stated Kim, who’s about 170 cm (5 ft., 8 in.) tall and beforehand weighed 140 kg (308 lb.), appeared to have misplaced a considerable amount of weight in 2021, possible from altering his weight loss plan. However latest state media footage present he has regained the load.
Learn Extra: TIME’s Information to Weight Loss
On Monday, the Nationwide Intelligence Service, South Korea’s foremost spy company, informed lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that Kim is estimated to weigh about 140 kg (308 lb.) once more and belongs to a high-risk group for coronary heart illness, in keeping with Lee Seong Kweun, one of many lawmakers.
Lee stated the NIS informed lawmakers that Kim has proven signs of hypertension and diabetes since his early 30s. One other lawmaker, Park Sunwon, stated the NIS believes Kim’s weight problems is linked to his consuming, smoking and stress.
Lee and Park quoted the NIS as saying it obtained intelligence that North Korean officers have been making an attempt to get new medicines overseas for Kim’s suspected hypertension and diabetes.
North Korea is without doubt one of the most secretive international locations on this planet, and there may be just about no method for outsiders to know Kim’s actual well being situations. The NIS additionally has a spotty file in confirming developments in North Korea.
Kim’s well being is the main focus of eager consideration outdoors North Korea since he hasn’t formally anointed a successor who would take cost of the nation’s advancing nuclear arsenal concentrating on the US and its allies if he was incapacitated.
The NIS in its Monday briefing additionally maintained its evaluation that Kim’s preteen daughter, reportedly named Kim Ju Ae, is probably going bolstering her standing as her father’s inheritor obvious. However the NIS stated it can not rule out the likelihood that she might be changed by one in every of her siblings as a result of she hasn’t been formally designated as her father’s successor.
Hypothesis about Kim Ju Ae, who’s about 10 years outdated, flared as she has accompanied her father on high-profile public occasions beginning in late 2022. State media known as her Kim Jong Un’s “most beloved” or “revered” youngster and churned out footage and images proving her rising political standing and closeness along with her father.
The NIS informed lawmakers that at the very least 60% of Kim Ju Ae’s public actions have concerned attending navy occasions along with her father.
