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Is Kim Jong-un sick? Leader's 'emaciated' look has North Koreans 'heartbroken' and 'in tears'

A Pyongyang resident, apparently representing others, gave interview to Korean Central Television (KCTV) about the country’s leader

Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of North Korea, has recently created quite the stir after apparently losing a significant amount of weight. Though no official update came out regarding his health, several North Koreans expressed their sorrow after seeing their leader in a new look. A Pyongyang resident, apparently representing others, reportedly gave a bizarre interview to Korean Central Television (KCTV) about Kim’s health.

The unnamed person said on Friday evening, June 25, “Seeing our respected comrade General Secretary [Kim Jong Un] become emaciated like that, all the people became so heartbroken. Everyone is talking about it. We all just started to cry.” This came after NK News, an English-language news site that specializes in North Korea, reported that the 37-year-old looked noticeably thinner on June 4 when he attended a meeting. The site also noted that the watch strap of his Portofino Automatic watch by Swiss company IWC Schaffhausen looked less tight on him than earlier.

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As per Korea Times, Kim’s weight was around 308 pounds in November 2020. His height is less than 5ft 6in, which would make him obese. A senior analyst at Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification has also commented on his apparent weight loss. Hong Min suggested that he might have shed some pounds to improve his health. He added, “If he was experiencing health problems, he wouldn’t have come out in public to convene the plenary meeting of the Workers’ Party’s Central Committee.”

Though North Koreans were worried about Kim’s health, people on the internet were rather unsympathetic. A user tweeted, “So the people there hope Kim to live longer or shorter? I’m confused. Obesity is very unhealthy, it’s even heart killer.” The second user said, “Is weight loss can be a news? now days we are hearing and seeing drama from medias. shame.” The third user wrote, “Hopefully this is judgment for oppressing and tightly controlling a nation for 73 years.”

“His sister is gaining weight. she'll replace him,” a user mentioned. Another one said, “People are never satisfied, He's to heavy his health is in danger we are worried. He's losing weight his health is in danger we are worried.” “Word is he got tired of getting called "fat boy" on Twitter, so he ordered his people to put him in a fat farm. Calisthenics six times a day, and a healthy diet with no junk food and Korean barbecue helped turn that floating fat man into the Kwizatz Haderach,” a tweet read.

Meanwhile, last week's reports stated that North Korea could face a food crisis in the coming months. Kim also admitted that the major issue is arising as he said, “The people's food situation is now getting tense.” Besides, he cautioned that higher chances of another “Arduous March” is possible in the near future. The food crisis of the 1990s that claimed 3.5 million lives was called “Arduous March”. Kim in April stated, “I made up my mind to ask the WPK (Workers' Party of Korea) organisations at all levels, including its Central Committee and the cell secretaries of the entire party, to wage another more difficult 'arduous march' in order to relieve our people of the difficulty, even a little.”