Satellite images show what is believed to be Kim Jong-Un’s personal train at a resort town as speculation mounts about his health.
Conflicting reports claim that the North Korean dictator is either dead or in a “vegetative state” following surgery – but the secretive state has yet to confirm or deny this.
Kim, believed to be 36, has not been seen since April 11, and was missing from the country’s Day of the Sun celebrations four days later.
It is claimed that he underwent heart surgery on April 12, which some sources claiming he did not survive.
A vice director of HKSTV Hong Kong Satellite Television said the North Korean leader was dead and cited a “very solid source.”
A Japanese weekly magazine, Shukan Gendai, now reports that the leader is in a “vegetative state” after a botched stent procedure.
Images released by 38 North, a Washington-based project monitoring North Korea, says that Kim’s train was in Wonsan, a port town in the east, on April 21 and 23.
It said the station is reserved for the sole use of the Kim family.
South Korean website Daily NK – which reports on the secretive northern neighbour – quoted a source who claimed Kim had undergone heart surgery on April 12.
And reports have surfaced in the South Korean media claiming the dictator was staying in the Wonsan area.
“The train’s presence does not prove the whereabouts of the North Korean leader or indicate anything about his health but it does lend weight to reports that Kim is staying at an elite area on the country’s eastern coast,” the 38 North report said.
A Chinese team of medics has been sent to North Korea to advise on the situation.
Kim, a heavy smoker who has noticeably gained wait since he became leader in 2011, has long been said to be suffering from health issues, and has a family history of cardiovascular problems.
Citing a Chinese medic who is understood to have been sent to Pyongyang to treat the ruler, Shukan Gendai magazine suggests a delay to the procedure left him in a grave condition.
But according to other reports, attributed to senior Communist party sources in Beijing, the team was dispatched after the failed heart surgery but arrived too late to save him.
One version claims that a simple procedure to insert a stent went wrong because a North Korean doctor’s hands were shaking.
It is reported that Kim was taken to hospital in early April, after he fell down and clutched his chest while on a visit to the countryside.
Mirrow.co.uk
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