What REALLY happened inside North Korea during 48 hour panic to ‘prove’ Kim Jong-un was still alive
NORTH Korea reportedly scrambled in a 48 hour panic to set up an event to prove Kim Jong-un was alive as rumours continue to swirl around his health.
Pyongyang officials are claimed to have hastily arranged for the dictator to visit the grand opening of a fertiliser factory – which is said to be unfinished and inoperable.
Kim vanished for more than 20 days – sparking rumours he was ill, or even dead – before he reappeared at the start of May.
State media released pictures of him beaming as he toured the new industrial complex in Sunchon, complete with a ceremonial cutting of the ribbon.
Reports have now emerged that this event was actually mysteriously and suddenly arranged just two days before it happened – and nobody knew Kim was going to be there, reports Daily NK.
North Korea is notoriously secretive, and it is very hard to know exactly what occurs within its borders without explicit confirmation from the regime.
Fresh reports of this 48 hour panic to stage a big event for Kim’s reappearence adds further mystery to his apparent disappearance.
And this is despite South Korea insisting he is fine, was just riding out the coroanvirus pandemic.
North Korean state media did report on two letters Kim had allegedly sent during his disappearance – but have continued to fail to offer a reason for his absence.
Rumours around Kim’s health were sparked when he missed the key Day of the Sun celebrations on April 15 after last being seen on April 11.
Satellite photos appeared to show he was in the seaside city of Wonsan as his armoured train was spotted, but the US repeatedly said they had not seen Kim.
It has now emerged a sudden order was sent by one of North Korea’s top government committees on April 28.
Workers at the Sunchon factory were told to prepare for a “completion ceremony” – even though the plant was nowhere near done.
Women and children were mobilised to plant flower beds and clean the roads within the factory grounds.
Builders are said “worked themselves to the bone, night and day” to try and get the job done in just two days.
Kim was then on hand for grand opening with his sister Kim Yo-jong, but the factory is allegedly just a facade.
It is unfinished and incapable of producing fertiliser due to a lack of imported machinery and raw materials.
North Korea authorities have reportedly given factory chiefs until October to get the plant working.
A source said: “Nobody onsite expected that the event would involve Kim Jong-un himself. Everyone knows that construction was not complete.”
Kim’s reemergence appears not to be business as usual as North Korea suggests, but a carefully crafted publicity stunt for the dictator.
South Korea has insisted all is well with Kim, but questions and theories loom over his health – such as a mysterious “needle mark” on his arm and credible reports China sent a medical team to advise on him.
Flurries of reports emerged from the US, Japan, South Korea and China – all of them saying the same thing, something is wrong with Kim.
Kim health’s is not believed to be good, reportedly being a prolific binge eater, heavy drinker and chain smoker with a history of heart problems in his family.
He has also reportedly only made 17 public appearances this year, as opposed to 50 in 2019.
Wilder theories have speculated the Kim who appeared on May 2 is actually just a body double standing in for him.
Meanwhile, North Korea is believed to be constructing a new missile base able to house 15 of his nuclear-capable Hwasong-15 weapons.
And Kim went missing again this week when he didn’t appear at a ceremony in which Russia awarded him a medal in Pyongyang as part of anniversary celebrations for the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Mintaro Oba, a former US official who worked on North Korea, told ABC: “The blunt truth is that we can speculate all we want about where Kim Jong-un was and why he disappeared, but we simply don’t know.
“It could be for health reasons, it could be for tactical reasons, we just don’t know with any certainty and probably won’t.”
Professor John Blaxland, from the Australian National University, added: “We can’t even be sure when these were taken, there is the question of if it’s even him as he has a body double but I don’t give much credence to that theory.
“There’s certainly the question of whether or not this is even a real event.”
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The academic said Kim’s unexplained lack of appearance on The Day of The Sun is the big question, while Mr Oba said experts are looking “very closely” at the pictures.
Professor Blaxland suggested his disappearance may have been a carefully arranged piece of political theatre, designed to flush out any dissenters among his inner circle.
And with South Korea claiming Kim was hiding from the coronavirus, that raises more questions as North Korea continues to boast it has zero cases of the infection.
Meanwhile, days after he reappeared North and South Korea exchanged fire over the heavily fortified DMZ that separates the two nations – driving home the fact the region remains on a knife edge.