North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has reappeared in public for the first time since he was warned about his health. The 42-year-old was the subject of a warning by South Korean spies that he is now so fat he is at risk of dying of a heart attack, like how his father died.
Health concerns and succession fears
The leader, known for living an extremely unhealthy lifestyle, is now believed to weigh 140kg (22st) – the lowest weight division in professional sumo wrestling. The 5'7'' man is a heavy drinker, smoker and gorges on the finest cuisines from all around the world – all while his poverty-stricken citizens starve.
There are now legitimate fears about who will succeed Kim to lead the unstable nuclear-armed nation. If Kim Jong-un dies and a power struggle erupts, it could have catastrophic implications for the world.
Public appearance at missile museum
But now the leader of one of the most secretive nations on Earth has resurfaced, seemingly determined to prove he's alive and well. Jong-un was seen earlier this week opening a new museum filled with some of the biggest missiles most humans have ever seen.
The National Defence Revolution Museum under the Second Economy Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was inaugurated with “due ceremony on the occasion of the 81st founding anniversary of the WPK,” officials have said. New images show the leader staring at, and even touching, the giant missiles that will be on display for the general North Korean public.
Official statements
The Pyongyang Times, which is the North Korean media mouthpiece, stated: “Comrade Kim Jong Un cut the inauguration tape. He went round the museum with the participants in the ceremony.
“Looking back with deep emotion on the sacred history of the Juche-oriented defence industry, which was pioneered along with the founding of the WPK and has undergone successful development, and on all stories recorded in the arduous course of pioneering the modernisation of defence industry and blazing a path, he said that the museum is an immortal archive and the greatest national treasure house that intensively and intuitively shows how the dignity and security of the DPRK and the happiness of its people were defended and how peace was achieved on this land.
“He proudly said that such revolutionary treasure as the National Defence Revolution Museum is a great historic building that can be possessed only by the WPK, which has steadily followed the path, to be proud of and glorious before the country and posterity, without a moment's stop, and a precious monument which can be built only by the powerful state and people with the absolute strength enormous enough to defend themselves.”
