Kim Jong-un is ill. The world is scrambling to find out how severe is he

The Intelligence in several countries were furiously engaged in fishing out credible reports on the condition of North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, after reports he has suffered a cardiac arrest and is on life support. China and South Korea, the neighbouring country, have since denied of any information that points to “unusual” in the health of the North Korean despot even as the world is drawn to the development, which has the potential to alter the diplomatic engagements with the Korean nations and the Western world.

The CNN, which was the first to break the news of his critical condition, in its latest update, has reported about the US keeping tabs on the health of North Korea’s leader.  The speculations about his health fired up after he reportedly went missing from the annual celebration of the found of North Korea and his grandfather Kim Il-sung’s birth anniversary on April 15. Reports suggest he didn’t attend any official celebration of the day, which has been accorded national importance. He has reportedly never failed to attend the day and join the festivities that accompany it as a tradition.

Prying out validated information from North Korea has always remained a challenge. The country, under the rule of Kim Jong-un has ferocious guarded information about the administration’s activities and the leader’s health. The 37-year-old leader is notorious for his warmongering policy and was engaged in barbs with the US president Donald Trump who had in one of his tweets threatened to put him in place triggering widespread fears about a conflict. The tension however dissipated after the two leaders met at a de-militarised zone in June, 2019.

An official in the White House, Bloomberg spoke to said, that Kim Jong-un was in critical condition after he underwent a surgery last week. The White House has officially declined to comment on his health. According to news outlets in North Korea, which are state-controlled, their leader had attended Politburo meeting on April 11, four days before the annual celebrations of his grandfather’s birth anniversary. He has since not been “visible” in the public space.

Journalist Anna Fifield who has authored a book, The Great Successor, on Kim Jong-un tweeted she had mentioned how his poor health posted the greatest risk to his life. In her book she had written, “The young leader looks like a heart attack waiting to happen and has clearly had health problems.” She says the North Korean leader is “extremely obese” at 300 pounds for his 5’7 frame.