North Korean leader’s absence fuels fears

The continued absence of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has prompted a rash of rumours about his plight, ranging from a broken ankle to gout to brain death, and highlighting the lack of real information about

the secretive state.

His 40-day disappearance has prompted speculation about the stability of the regime.

Mr Kim hasn't been seen since he attended a concert on September 3rd, and he previously appeared to walk with a limp. Stories began to circulate he had gout, then he had injured his leg during military exercises. People talk of how he has put on weight.

In Seoul, according to the Korea Herald, there are rumours Mr Kim is bedbound after a failed surgical procedure left him "almost brain dead" and that three senior officials Choe Ryong-hae, Hwang Pyong-so and Kim Yang-gon, are now in charge in Pyongyang.

The authorities in South Korea are quick to play up rumours of instability in the North. A second exchange of fire last week, when North Korea fired multiple rounds from what is believed to be a 14.5mm heavy machine gun across the border, was a jarring reminder of how volatile the situation is.

Perhaps with this in mind, the South has sought to calm some of the more excessive rumour-mongering. The South’s unification minister, Ryu Gil-jae, said in an interview with South Korea’s KBS TV that Mr Kim was fine, citing Kim Yang-gon, Pyongyang’s top official on inter-Korean issues. South Korea’s defence minister, Han Min-koo, said Mr Kim was “resting at his residence”.

When Mr Kim’s late father, Kim Jong-il, disappeared for two months in 2008, he emerged looking frail, and it appeared he had had a stroke. During the ensuing period, he laid down the law, firing a long-range rocket, abandoning six-party nuclear talks and conducting a second nuclear test.

There are fears that to show the political situation and the power structure is stable, North Korea could engage in more aggressive activities, such as a fourth nuclear test.

Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute in Seoul, said he did not expect Mr Kim to fall from power that easily, as he has already purged the military leadership and appointed allies to key positions. “If Kim’s absence lengthens, it is likely North Korean officials will react sensitively to all these rumours,” he told the newspaper. “We must take a strategic approach to the current state of affairs and possibly prepare for a post-Kim Jong-un era.”