{"id":206300,"date":"2020-04-26T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2020-04-26T08:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=206300"},"modified":"2020-04-29T05:32:48","modified_gmt":"2020-04-29T05:32:48","slug":"kim-jong-uns-sister-in-spotlight-as-rumors-persist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=206300","title":{"rendered":"Kim Jong Un\u2019s sister in spotlight as rumors persist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dave Makichuk \u2013 Asia Times April 26, 2020<\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Kim Yo Jong (left) and Kim Jong-Un (right). Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

Rumors surrounding Kim Jong Un\u2019s health intensified today as some Asian media outlets and TMZ claimed that he had died or is currently \u201cgravely ill,\u201d the Daily Mail<\/strong><\/span><\/a> reported, while the media spotlight has shifted to his mysterious sister.<\/span><\/p>\n

The vice director of Hong Kong Satellite Television Shijian Xingzou says that a \u201cvery solid source\u201d has told her the North Korean despot, 36, is already dead.<\/span><\/p>\n

She has 15 million followers on Chinese social media Weibo, and is also the niece of one of the country\u2019s foreign ministers, the report said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Separately, a Japanese media outlet claims that Kim has gone into a \u201cvegetative state\u201d after he underwent heart surgery earlier in the month.<\/span><\/p>\n

As reported by Asia Times<\/strong><\/span><\/a> and other outlets, a Chinese medic told the Japanese magazine that the leader clutched his chest and fell to the ground on a visit to the countryside. A doctor accompanying Kim performed CPR and took him to a nearby hospital, where apparently the procedure was performed.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Kim is dead, official verification might only come from North Korea state media, which delayed the announcements of the deaths of Kim\u2019s despotic predecessors, his father and grandfather, for up to four days, the Post reported.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to North Korea you can never be too sure until you hear the news from the country itself,\u201d said David Maxwell, a North Korea specialist at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.<\/span><\/p>\n

South Korean government officials and a Chinese official with the Liaison Department challenged subsequent reports suggesting that Kim was in grave danger, the report said. Officials said they had detected no signs of unusual activity in North Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, China has sent a team to\u00a0North Korea\u00a0including medical experts to check on the Supreme Leader, according to three people familiar with the situation, The Guardian <\/a><\/strong><\/span>reported.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear what the trip by the Chinese team signalled in terms of Kim\u2019s health.<\/span><\/p>\n

As questions surrounding North Korean leader Kim Jong Un\u2019s possible death reach a fever pitch, Kim Yo Jong \u2014 the\u00a0disappearing\u00a0dictator\u2019s sister and closest confidante \u2014 takes the spotlight and, maybe, the top job, Forbes <\/strong><\/span><\/a>reported.<\/span><\/p>\n

While she rocketed to international\u00a0attention\u00a0during the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Yo Jong is a somewhat mysterious figure, with basic details like her\u00a0exact age\u00a0(early 30s), unconfirmed by the North Korean regime, Forbes reported.<\/span><\/p>\n

A favorite of her late father Kim Jong Il, she attended school in Switzerland,\u00a0The Washington Post<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/em> reported, where she took ballet lessons before returning to North Korea in the early 2000s.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nicknamed\u00a0the \u201cIvanka Trump of North Korea,\u201d Kim Yo Jong\u00a0said\u00a0last month that President Trump and her brother had \u201cspecial and firm personal relations,\u201d despite the ongoing conflict around the latter\u2019s nuclear weapons, an arsenal the rising leader seems eager to protect, the report said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Responsible for pushing North Korean propaganda and protecting her brother\u2019s reputation, she recently called South Korea a \u201cfrightened dog barking\u201d for objecting to a live-fire military demonstration by the state, the\u00a0Guardian<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span> noted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid conflicting reports about Kim Jong Un\u2019s health, icluding some that he may be dead, attention shifts to his sister and possible successor, Kim Jo Jong<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":206052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Current_Affairs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=206300"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206313,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206300\/revisions\/206313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/206052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=206300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=206300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=206300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}