North Korean leader is fit, has lost 20 kg: South’s spy agency

Seoul, Oct 28 (EFE).- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has lost about 20 kg after previously weighing 140 kg and has no health issues, South Korea’s spy agency has said.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) thus dismissed the speculations by some American media houses that it was a double of Kim who appeared in the latest public appearances of the dictator.

Lawmaker Kim Byung-kee of the ruling Democratic Party told reporters in Seoul that the spy agency revealed the health assessment during a closed-door parliamentary session.

The spy agency assessed the health of the North Korean leader using artificial intelligence and other scientific methods, said the lawmaker, a member of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee.

Kim’s health, especially his excess weight, is a widely debated topic in the western media.

There is a tendency for media speculations that the 37-year-old leader might suffer a sudden death and leave a power vacuum in the communist regime because his father and grandfather suffered from cardiovascular problems.

The spy agency also noted the possibility that North Korea might have reprocessed spent fuel rods to obtain plutonium for nuclear weapons, the Yonhap news agency quoted the lawmaker as saying.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had earlier noted suspicious activities at the Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center, some 100 km north of Pyongyang.

The activities raised suspicion over the reactivation of a five-megawatt reactor at the plant.

The NIS also reported that Kim had also removed portraits of his father and grandfather, former leaders Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung, from the backdrop of official meetings.

It may be an indication of his willingness to distance Kim from the legacy of his predecessors. EFE

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