argument top image

Where is Kim Jong-un?
Back to question

Kim Jong Un is in hospital

Several Japanese media reports claim that the leader is in a vegetative state after a botched heart surgery that took place in early April 2020.

Context

Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong-Un has seemingly disappeared yet again, this time for several weeks. In the world media, conflicting theories about his whereabouts have emerged.

The Argument

Unlike some theories suggest, Kim Jong-Un is not dead but he’s not at some tropical resort, either. Rather, doctors are currently fighting for his life at a hospital in Japan. According to weekly general-issue magazine Shukan Gendai [1], the North Korean dictator fell into a coma due to heart surgery-related complications [2]. After clutching his heart and passing out on a day trip to the Chinese countryside, an accompanying doctor performed CPR and rushed him to the hospital [3]. There, it was discovered that he had been putting off a stent procedure, a minimally-invasive surgery that involves the insertion of tubes to unblock clogged arteries [4]. Why Jong-Un would delay such a simple procedure is unknown, but the delay caused serious health problems. The leader’s critical health condition was covered up by the North Korean media, as they feared destabilizing the political environment he had spent so long creating or allowing other world powers to attack when the country was the most vulnerable. Thus, Jong-Un has vanished from the eye of the news-at least until he makes a full recovery.

Counter arguments

There is little evidence to support this theory, as opposed to other theories that rely on pictures, transcripts, interviews, and satellite images. This theory relies entirely on hearsay from a single magazine, making its reliability questionable at best.

Proponents

Premises

Rejecting the premises

References

  1. https://gendai.ismedia.jp/articles/-/72122
  2. https://www.wdrb.com/news/national/kim-jong-un-in-vegetative-state-japanese-media-claims-china-medical-experts-dispatched-to-north/article_c067d6f0-8729-11ea-9475-7745fa49280c.html
  3. https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3922763
  4. https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/asia-pacific/1587811046-report-kim-jong-un-in-vegetative-state-after-stent-procedure-gone-wrong
This page was last edited on Tuesday, 6 Oct 2020 at 09:40 UTC

Explore related arguments