North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) holds hands with Liu Yunshan, the Chinese Communist Party’s fifth-ranked leader, as they respond to the crowd during a large-scale military parade at Pyongyang’s Kim Il-sung Square on Oct. 10, 2015, to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, in this image captured from the North’s Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station. (Yonhap)
In this image captured from the North’s Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station on Oct. 8, 2015, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (front) visits the northern free-trade city of Rason, which has been devastated by a flood caused by Typhoon Goni. The broadcaster did not report when he made the visit. Among Kim’s entourage was Ma Won-chun, director of the design department at the North’s powerful National Defense Commission in his first public appearance in a year to quell rumors of his purge. Kim reportedly purged Ma, who spearheaded the construction of a new airport terminal in Pyongyang which opened in July. (Yonhap)
Your eyes have not been deceiving you, Kim Jong-un has been growing fatter every year according to this report:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gained around 30 kg over the last five years and now weighs apparently close to 130 kg.
A government official said Friday, “By analyzing Kim Jong-un’s body shape and gait, we estimated he weighed less than 100 kg when he first appeared in public in September of 2010 but then rapidly put on weight.”
He said the clearest signs are his belly and double chin. “When he’s standing while holding his hands behind his back, you can see his abdomen protruding, and his chin folds when he is spotted giving orders.” [Chosun Ilbo]
You can read the rest at the link, but at this rate Kim Jong-un will not need to worry about a palace coup to replace him because he will eat himself to death before then.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) inspects the northern free-trade city of Rason, which has been devastated by a flood, in this photo provided by North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun on Sept. 18, 2015. Typhoon Goni soaked the northern part of North Korea, particularly hitting Rason. The flood is known to have left at least 40 people dead and about 1,420 families homeless. Kim ordered the completion of flood recovery works in the city before the 70th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea on Oct. 10. (Yonhap)
The report doesn’t say whether the changes were made after or before the recent cross border incident that led to a negotiated settlement between the North and the South. If these changes were made afterwards maybe Kim Jong-un was not aware of the operation to plant landmines on the southern side of the DMZ? It seems unlikely to me though because that would be something pretty audacious for a military commander to think he could get away with doing something like that without consulting the regime inner circle first:
Kim Jong Un, the querulous North Korean leader, said the recent standoff with South Korea was resolved not through negotiation but “thanks to the tremendous military muscle” of the country’s nuclear weapons.
Some analysts have suggested that Pyongyang’s recent eagerness to hold talks with Seoul could be a sign of domestic vulnerability for Kim, whose official titles include first chairman of the National Defense Commission and supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army.
But according to North Korea’s version of events, last weekend’s standoff with South Korea was a sign of the former’s strength.
“We protected the dignity and sovereignty of the country, the gains of the revolution and the happiness of the people by our own efforts amid the tempest of the history without anybody’s support and sympathy,” Kim told officials at a meeting to analyze and review the “revolutionary measures” the regime had taken over the past week, according to the country’s official Korean Central News Agency.
The news report, published Friday, also said that the 30-something leader had dismissed some members of the Central Military Commission, which is responsible for the Korean Workers’ Party’s military policies, and appointed new ones. But it did not say which officials had been replaced. The dismissals come after an extended period of sometimes-brutal personnel changes in North Korea, notably Kim’s execution of his defense minister this year. [Stars and Stripes]
Sounds like another news item that Park Sang-hak and his team should send across the DMZ for North Korean citizens to read about:
Two satellite images were compared to produce the analysis on Kim Jong Un’s Residence No. 15: the first from Jan. 14 and the second from May 20 show the progress on the roof and the garden. Photo by Yonhap
An extravagant mansion for former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that cost Pyongyang tens of millions of dollars to build in 2010 has been torn down, and new construction is underway, according to satellite images from May.
The No. 15 Official Residence where Kim Jong Un‘s mother, Ko Young Hee, once lived also is the childhood home of the current North Korean leader.
Curtis Melvin of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, who used the satellite imagery in his analysis, told Radio Free Asia the roof on the north side of the building has been torn down and a landscaping project has begun in a garden section of the compound, South Korean newspaper Donga Ilbo reported.
Two satellite images were compared to produce the analysis: the first from Jan. 14 and the second from May 20 show the progress on the roof and the garden.
The residence cost tens of millions of dollars to build five years ago, and roads and railways for the former leader’s exclusive use also were built. Underground tunnels for electric trains are connected to office buildings in the compound. [UPI]
You can read more at the link, but you have to love the power that Google Earth provides average citizens to note things like this.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) and Ri Sol-ju (L) applaud as they watch an art performance given by the State Merited Chorus to mark the 62nd anniversary on July 27 of the Armistice Agreement that effectively ended the 1950-53 Korean War, in this image taken from the Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station on Aug. 4, 2015. The report did not mention when the meeting was held. (Yonhap)
