There has been reports that the supreme leader of the reclusive regime of North Korea has died after an unsuccessful heart surgery procedure. Other sources indicate that the “dear leader” is in a vegetative state precipitated by a botched heart operation.
While some of these reports could be true, none of them has been confirmed so far and the only confirmed truth is that the North Korean leader indeed did undergo a medical procedure that never went as planned. But whether he died due to that procedure or went into a long-term state of unconsciousness (vegetative state) is open to speculation. But even if any one of these reports (died) or the other (went into a vegetative state) is true, there is going to be ramifications for North Korea, its neighbors and the world at large.
Possible Scenarios.
Assuming Mr. Kim is indeed dead the state of North Korea can elect to discontinue the absolute monarch system of governance in which leadership of their country is passed on from one Kim family member to the other. Kim Jong Un himself inherited the throne upon the death of his father Kim Jong Il in December of 2012. Ironically, the young Kim’s father also died from a heart attack on board his personal train. The issue of North Korea doing away with the Kim dynasty is very unlikely because there is no clear caretaker of the government outside of the Kim family. This makes it very likely that the country will want to retain the Kim dynasty for now by transferring power to Kim’s younger sister Kim Yo-Jong.
Born in 1988, the 31-year old Kim Jong Un’s sister has been seen around the supreme leader most of the time while serving him as his personal secretary. She got married to Cheo Song in 2014 in a lavish ceremony in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital city. Kim Yo-Jong’s job title is of a First Director of The Propaganda and Agitation Department (stop laughing). Such a job title will raise eyebrows in the West but this is totally normal in North Korea. According to Wikipedia, the younger Kim Yo-Jong first appeared in public in 2010 when she stood next to her father Kim Jong Il’s personal secretary and mistress during a photo session for participants in the 3rd Conference of the Worker’s Party of Korea (WPK).
But what if the North Korean leader is actually not dead but he is completely incapacitated in a vegetative state? There has been speculation purporting this conjecture including reports from the White House in Washington DC, as reported by CNN, that Kim Jong Un is not dead, but rather, he is incapacitated in his death bed in Pyongyang in a serious condition in which he may not recover.
In that case, his sister will also take offer the running of the North Korean government’s affairs for the time being with hopes that may be and just may be his older brother Kim Jong Un will eventually make a full recovery and take over the leadership role of the government. In the event of his death, as said before, his sister will take sole custody of the reclusive regime.
While female head of state is a rarity in most part of the world, the site of a female leader in the Korean peninsular is nothing new. In fact, the predecessor of the current leader of South Korea was a woman, Park Geun Hye who was president from February 2013 until her impeachment in March 2017 due to corruption scandals. She was tried, convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison, a sentence in which she is currently serving.
Brutal Dictatorship
If the reports of Kim Jong un’s passing or incapacitation are true, very few people will be saddened by such an occurrence. This is because the reclusive leader of North Korea is infamous for his iron fist and brutal forms of leadership. In February 2017, the North Korean dictator ordered the assassination of his brother Kim Jong-Nam in Malaysia using a deadly chemical weapon called VX.
In that incident, it is rumored that Kim Jong Un used two women in Kuala Lumpur Airport to smear Kim Jong Nam with a VX agent disguised as a yellow pie. Apparently, the two women were unaware that the so called “yellow paste” was extremely deadly should it become in contact with their bare skin. They cornered their subject and completed their task. The victim (Kim Jong-Nam) collapsed and died almost immediately after the smear. The two women were arrested a week later and charged with Mr. Jong-nam’s murder, but were acquitted several years later.
Kim Jong-nam was rumourd to be a CIA informant and widely seen as the possible contender to the throne should anything happen to Kim Jong-un. After his death, Malaysian authorities found stacks of cash in his backpack totaling $100,000. Kim Jong-nam had no close relationship with the dictator of North Korea as far as sibling cooperation is concerned. Although the two brothers have the same biological fathers, they had different mothers.
Kim Jong-Un is also known to have killed his own uncle Jang Song Thaek in 2013.
Jang Song Thaek was accused of treason, tried in a military court and then executed via a barrage of bullets from an anti-aircraft gun. There are some unconfirmed reports that his remains were fed to stray dogs after the execution.
