Is North Korean leader Kim Jong Un dead? Is he incapacitated? Or is Kim, at a relatively young 36, merely sheltering from the deadly coronavirus that has rampaged across the globe?
In the information black hole that is North Korea, it’s virtually impossible to ascertain the status of his health — the country’s most closely guarded secret. This, however, has not prevented a steady stream of speculation about the dictator’s fate amid his more than two-week absence from public view.
This speculation grew after he was absent from celebrations marking the birthday of Kim Il Sung, his late grandfather and founder of the country, one of the nation’s most important holidays. Rumors and media reports have ranged from Kim being in a “vegetative state," the casualty of a botched heart surgery, to him merely sheltering in the provinces, evacuating the capital to escape a COVID-19 outbreak among the Supreme Guard Command, the elite force that protects the Kim family.