leader Kim Jong-un has regained weight and appears to have obesity-related health problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and his officials are looking for new medicines abroad to treat them, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers.
The 40-year-old Kim, known for heavy drinking and smoking, comes from a family with a history of heart problems.
Both his father and grandfather, who ruled North Korea before his 2011 inheritance of power, died of heart issues.
Some observers said Kim, who is about 170cm tall and previously weighed 140kg, appeared to have lost a large amount of weight in 2021, likely from changing his diet. But recent state media footage showed he had regained the weight.
On Monday, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), South Korea’s main spy agency, told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that Kim was estimated to weigh about 140kg again and was in a high-risk group for heart disease, according to Lee Seong-kweun, one of the lawmakers.
Lee said the NIS told lawmakers that Kim had shown symptoms of high blood pressure and diabetes since his early 30s.
Another lawmaker, Park Sunwon, said the NIS believed that Kim’s obesity was linked to his drinking, smoking and stress.
Lee and Park quoted the NIS as saying it obtained intelligence that North Korean officials had been trying to get new medications abroad for Kim’s suspected high blood pressure and diabetes.
North Korea is one of the most secretive countries in the world, and there is virtually no way for outsiders to know Kim’s exact health conditions. The NIS also has a spotty record in confirming developments in North Korea.
Kim’s health is the focus of keen attention outside North Korea since he has not formally anointed a successor who would take charge of the country’s advancing nuclear arsenal targeting the United States and its allies if he was incapacitated.
The NIS in its Monday briefing maintained its assessment that Kim’s preteen daughter, reportedly named Kim Ju-ae, was bolstering her likely status as her father’s heir apparent.
But the NIS said it could not rule out the possibility that she could be replaced by one of her siblings because she had not been officially designated as her father’s successor. — AP
