An APB is still out for the despotic and injury-plagued Kim Jong Un, after the alleged coup victim was reportedly a no-show at a national ceremony.
North Korea honored Kim’s father and grandfather on Friday, the 69th anniversary of their political party’s founding. The state’s news agency, however, did not list Kim among attendees of a service at the mausoleum where his forefathers are mummified. The New York Times noted that he has led such an observance each year of his reign, which began after Kim Jong Il died in December 2011.
Kim’s seeming absence furthers the narrative that something is amiss in the secretive state. Some have speculated that he was the victim of a nonviolent overthrow at the hands of a powerful governing council created under his father. Others have said he remains in firm control, Reuters reports.
Then there’s his health. Some have said he’s a gout sufferer, partly borne of a cheese mania. Others have said that he got hit with a few drills and now he walks with a limp.
“He ordered all the generals to take part in drills and he took part too. They were crawling and running and rolling around, and he pulled a tendon,” an anonymous source with close ties to North Korea and its closest ally, China, told Reuters. The injury reportedly worsened, which may imply that although the portly leader is built like a poor excuse for an offensive lineman, he at least fights through pain like a good one. What a gamer.
Although North Korean sources and reports quoting them differ about Kim’s health, whereabouts and control, he continues to enjoy exposure unabated in the West. The dictator is set to be portrayed in a retro-style video game, and his likeness is the assassination target of Seth Rogen and James Franco in the upcoming film “The Interview.”
