North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un has reportedly died, according to media outlets in China and Japan.
A Japanese media outlet has also claimed that the North Korean leader is in a ‘vegetative state’ with no hope for recuperation after he underwent heart surgery.
Amid these reports China has sent a medical team to their communist neighbors this week to check in or advise Kim.
The trip by the Chinese doctors and officials comes amid conflicting reports about the health of the North Korean leader, with western outlets unable to immediately determine what the trip by the Chinese team signaled in terms of Kim’s health.
According to TMZ, a Hong Kong-backed news channel’s vice director, who is the niece of a Chinese foreign minister blasted out the news herself that Kim is dead.
The woman put the report on Weibo, Chinese version of Twitter, for her nearly 15 million followers to read, citing a “very solid source” about the claim Kim had, in fact, passed on.
The outlet reports, citing a Chinese medical expert privy to the situation said that Kim had clutched his chest in early April and fell down while visiting North Korea’s countryside.
It was claimed that he needed a stent procedure done, but it was either not done rapidly enough, or it was completely botched by the surgeon as some reports claim he has shaky hands.
These reports have not been debunked by any major source or the leader himself as Kim has not made any major public appearances in two weeks.
Kim’s last confirmed public appearance was when he led a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party committee of policymakers, according to North Korean state media.
CNN had earlier reported that Kim was in “grave danger” after a medical procedure.
But President Trump had downplayed the report, refusing to give further details.
According to Daily Mail, a 250-metre-long train belonging to the dictator has been spotted near his Wonsan holiday compound as recently as Thursday in satellite photos.
Although Kim’s whereabouts is unknown, the train’s presence at a railway station reserved for the Kim family in an ‘elite’ area on east coast suggests he has arrived in the last week and is currently staying there.
