North Korean officials seek medicine for Kim’s health problems related to obesity, Seoul says

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean chief Kim Jong Un has regained weight and seems to have obesity-related well being issues akin to hypertension and diabetes, and his officers are in search of new medicines overseas to deal with them, South Korea’s spy company advised lawmakers Monday.

The 40-year-old Kim, identified for heavy ingesting and smoking, comes from a household with a historical past of coronary heart issues. Each his father and grandfather, who dominated North Korea earlier than his 2011 inheritance of energy, died of coronary heart points.

Some observers mentioned Kim, who’s about 170 centimeters (5 ft, 7 inches) tall and beforehand weighed 140 kilograms (308 kilos), appeared to have misplaced a considerable amount of weight in 2021, doubtless from altering his weight-reduction plan. However current state media footage present he has regained the load.

On Monday, the Nationwide Intelligence Service, South Korea’s fundamental spy company, advised lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that Kim is estimated to weigh about 140 kilograms (308 kilos) once more and is in a high-risk group for coronary heart illness, in line with Lee Seong Kweun, one of many lawmakers.

Lee mentioned the NIS advised lawmakers that Kim has proven signs of hypertension and diabetes since his early 30s. One other lawmaker, Park Sunwon, mentioned the NIS believes Kim’s weight problems is linked to his ingesting, smoking and stress.

Lee and Park quoted the NIS as saying it obtained intelligence that North Korean officers have been making an attempt to get new drugs overseas for Kim’s suspected hypertension and diabetes.

North Korea is without doubt one of the most secretive international locations on the planet, and there may be just about no method for outsiders to know Kim’s precise well being situations. The NIS additionally has a spotty file in confirming developments in North Korea.

Kim’s well being is the main focus of eager consideration exterior North Korea since he hasn’t formally anointed a successor who would take cost of the nation’s advancing nuclear arsenal focusing on america and its allies if he was incapacitated.

The NIS in its Monday briefing maintained its evaluation that Kim’s preteen daughter, reportedly named Kim Ju Ae, is bolstering her doubtless standing as her father’s inheritor obvious. However the NIS mentioned it can’t rule out the chance that she might be changed by one among her siblings as a result of she hasn’t been formally designated as her father’s successor.

Hypothesis about Kim Ju Ae, who’s about 10 or 11 years previous, flared when she accompanied her father at high-profile public occasions beginning in late 2022. State media known as her Kim Jong Un’s “most beloved” or “revered” baby and churned out footage and pictures proving her rising political standing and closeness along with her father.

The NIS advised lawmakers that a minimum of 60% of Kim Ju Ae’s public actions have concerned attending army occasions along with her father.