Former South Korean Diplomat Claims North Korea’s Kim Jong-un Is Comatose

Jang Sung-min, formerly a South Korean diplomat and aide to President Kim Dae-jung, claimed this weekend that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is comatose, citing no first-hand evidence for the allegation.

On the same day Jang made his claim, South Korean intelligence officials briefed lawmakers on some unusual changes Kim made to the structure of North Korean government but did not claim he is severely ill or comatose as Jang suggested.

Jang’s claim was reported by the Korea Herald on Friday:

In a social media post, Jang said that no North Korean leader would entrust any of his authority to another person unless he was too sick to rule or was removed through a coup. He reiterated his earlier claim that Kim Jong-un is bedridden and unable to rule.

Claiming that he had secured the information from a source in China, Jang said Kim is “comatose,” going on to detail his own experience in the presidential office to back up the veracity of his claims. He also claimed that all photographs of Kim released by the North in recent months were fake.

“I assess him to be in a coma, but his life has not ended. A complete succession structure has not been formed, so Kim Yo-jong is being brought to the fore as the vacuum cannot be maintained for a prolonged period,” Jang said.

Kim Yo-jong is the 33-year-old younger sister of the corpulent 36-year-old Kim Jong-un, whose health has been a constant subject of speculation since he assumed power in 2011. Kim Jong-un has three known sons, but none of them are old enough to assume power and continue the dynasty that began with the current dictator’s grandfather, Kim Il-sung.

Kim Yo-jong has been given increasing power and responsibility in the past few years, prompting theories that she is either being groomed to take over from her brother, or she is the only person the paranoid dictator feels comfortable delegating power to. Unsubstantiated rumors most recently claimed she had assumed power in April, when Kim Jong-un disappeared from the public eye for an extended period, generating suspicion that he was dead or terminally ill. 

South Korean lawmaker Ha Tae-keung, who sits on the intelligence committee, said last week that Kim Yo-jong has become “the de factor second-in-command” in North Korea, while some other top officials have also been granted more power. Ha thought this restructuring might be intended to take some of the strain of rulership away from Kim Jong-un, and perhaps give him more scapegoats to blame if things go badly in North Korea under continued sanctions, but Ha said he believes Kim Jong-un is still firmly in control.

Kim Yo-jong often appears in public remarks even more hostile toward South Korea and the Western world than her brother and has been personally sanctioned by the U.S. government for human rights violations. She is thought to have been involved in the destruction of the joint liaison office in the border city of Kaesong in June, an event seen as a major setback in inter-Korea relations, especially since South Korean intelligence believes she is now effectively in charge of cross-border relations. 

Kim Jong-un has returned after several previous health scares and death rumors, usually with a burst of propaganda from North Korea about how the outside world was foolish to believe the great leader was dead. North Korea never explained his disappearance in April, which included missing an important ceremonial state function. A previous death rumor lasted for six weeks in 2014 before Kim resurfaced walking with a cane, supposedly because he had a cyst removed from his ankle.