A weight has been lifted from the world’s shoulders — and his, too, it would appear.
Avunculicidal despot Kim Jong Un has returned to public view in photos released by North Korea’s state news agency, showing the rumored cheesehead a few pounds lighter and walking with a cane. The accompanying news report stated that Kim toured a residential complex set up for scientists — but not when.
Scientists “have a socialist motherland and are under the care of the mother party,” he was quoted as saying in the report, which isn’t quite as good as having a truly republican homeland and the care of an occasionally accountable government, but hey.
Neither the state news story nor the photos confirm that the visit took place this week. The cane would appear to verify recent reports of the tyrant’s ill health, and the shed pounds — about 22 since May, a South Korean analyst told the AP — may signal that Kim is earning brownie points with a post-Lenten sacrifice of gluttony, despite the country’ antireligion. No word, however, as to whether or not he has cut into his $645,800,000 spending spree on items like cosmetics and handbags.
Sky’s China correspondent, Mark Stone, cautioned that the photos could have been taken at any point in the last few months. Other Western news outlets ran their own reports without paying much attention to the lack of calendar details.
One thing is for certain: At some point in recent history, Kim Jong Un was pictured with a cane. In the words of Tony “Duke” Evers, “You see? He’s not a machine — he’s a man.”
