According to various Chinese and Japanese news agencies, North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un “has reportedly died, or is on his death bed with no hope for recuperation”.
While specifics are not yet available, reports indicate that Kim Jong-un reportedly died due to complications from heart surgery. Kim Jong-un first became the leader of North Korea in 2011 following the death of his father Kim Jong-il, who held the position from July 1994 until December 2011.
In addition to the TMZ, Laura Bassett politics columnist at GQ Magazine reported that the 26-year-old North Korean leader is “at least brain dead, possibly dead”, which sets up his sister 31-year-old Kim Yo Jong — to become the first-ever female leader of the communist state.
Meanwhile, a deputy director of HKSTV Hong Kong Satellite Television, a Beijing-backed broadcast network in Hong Kong, claimed that Kim was dead, citing a “very solid source.”
Her post on the Chinese messaging app Weibo has been shared widely on social media, according to a report in the International Business Times.
Other unconfirmed reports, attributed to senior party sources in Beijing, said an operation to insert a stent went wrong because the surgeon’s hands were shaking so badly.
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