Reuters is reporting that a Chinese medical team has been dispatched to North Korea to consult on North Korea’s Supreme Leader’s condition:
BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) – China has dispatched a team to North Korea including medical experts to advise on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to three people familiar with the situation.
The trip by the Chinese doctors and officials comes amid conflicting reports about the health of the North Korean leader. Reuters was unable to immediately determine what the trip by the Chinese team signaled in terms of Kim’s health.
A delegation led by a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department left Beijing for North Korea on Thursday, two of the people said. The department is the main Chinese body dealing with neighbouring North Korea.
It’s hard to speculate about what this indicates. On the one hand calling in international consultants is evidence that Kim is still alive but on the other hand it probably isn’t the sniffles. Although with North Korea you can never tell.
Kim’s father, Kim Jong-Il, died at 70 of a heart attack so cardiovascular problems clearly run in the family. Kim’s smoking and weight lend further weight to the speculations.
As I noted in my last post on this subject, everything is speculation right now but any time there is a potential change of leadership in a nuclear-armed country it piques my interest.
