Kim Jong-un lost 20 kilos and is healthy, says South Korean intelligence

South Korean intelligence estimates that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has lost about 20 kilos after weighing about 140 and is in good health, as was announced today before a parliamentary committee.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) in this way categorically denied what was speculated by some publications in the United States about the possibility that it is a double of Kim the one that has appeared in the last public appearances of the dictator after an alleged coup.

The NIS uses a variety of scientific methods to make its calculations about the marshal’s weight loss, MP Kim Byung-kee, a member of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee, explained at a press conference.

Kim’s health, and especially his excess weight, is a widely debated issue that tends to be speculated on the possibility that the 37-year-old leader, whose father and grandfather suffered from cardiovascular problems, could die suddenly and leave a power vacuum in the regime.

During today’s committee session, the NIS also pointed to the possibility that North Korea has reprocessed spent fuel rods to obtain plutonium for nuclear weapons, Kim Byung-kee added in statements collected by the Yonhap agency.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) already warned in summer about the activity at the Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center (about 100 kilometers north of Pyongyang) that pointed towards the reactivation of its 5 megawatt reactor.

South Korean intelligence has also pointed out that the portraits of his father and grandfather, Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung, have been withdrawn in the meetings chaired by the young leader, at least in those that he has been portraying state propaganda, which indicates a willingness to distance Kim from the legacy of his predecessors.

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