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NORTH KOREAN LEADER Kim Jong-Un apparently missed a key political event today, extending a month-long absence that has fuelled rampant speculation about his physical and political health.
Kim was not listed by the state KCNA news agency as being among the officials who made an annual pilgrimage to the mausoleum in Pyongyang housing the remains of his father and grandfather.
However, a floral tribute bearing Kim’s name was presented to the two statues of Kim Jong-Il and Kim Il-Sung to mark the 69th anniversary of the North Korean ruling party’s foundation, the agency said.
Kim, believed to be 30 or 31, has not been seen since 3 September when he attended a music concert with his wife in Pyongyang.
Competing theories for his disappearance range widely from an extended rest period to a leadership coup, via a long list of possible illnesses and ailments including broken ankles, gout and diabetes.
South Korea, which has largely distanced itself from the guessing game, said it saw no indication to suggest Kim was no longer in charge.
“There are continuous reports (in North Korea’s state media) concerning the exercise of Kim Jong-Un’s leadership,” Seoul’s Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-Chul told reporters.
“Judging from these, it seems that Kim Jong-Un is ruling normally,” Lim said, adding that the government had no specific intelligence on Kim’s health.
Kim’s absence from the Kumsusan mausoleum visit was significant as he has attended each year since coming to power following the death of his father in 2011.
While he could still make an appearance later in the day, a complete no-show will likely send an already whirring rumour mill into overdrive.
The explanation with the most currency is a health issue that has left him temporarily incapacitated.
Kim, a heavy smoker, has shown striking weight gain since coming to power following the death of his father in 2011, and recent TV footage had shown him walking with a pronounced limp.
“My own feeling is that there has been a health problem, but not a particularly serious one,” said Chung Young-Chul, a professor of North Korean studies at Sogang University in Seoul.
‘Invincible power’
“A no-show would certainly force us to consider the possibility that it’s more serious than we thought,” Chung said.
In a front-page editorial on Friday, the Rodong Sinmun described Kim as the symbol of the ruling party’s “dignity and invincibility”, and said his authority should be protected by all means necessary.
“The steel-like unity of the party, with the leader at the centre, is the source of invincible power,” the party mouthpiece said.
What little light North Korea has deemed necessary to shed on the rumours surrounding Kim’s absence has only added to the confusion.
State media alluded at one point to his “discomfort”, but one member of a top-level North delegation that visited South Korea last week insisted Kim had no health problem at all.
The uncertainty means that every move or comment by North Korea is now seen through the unreliable prism of what it might say about Kim’s situation.
Some saw the surprise visit by the high-ranking delegation as a message that all was normal in Pyongyang.
Others saw the presence of Kim’s de-facto number two in the delegation as possible evidence that the leader may have been sidelined or pushed out altogether.
It is by no means unprecedented for a North Korean leader to drop out of the public eye for a while.
But it is more noticeable with Kim, who has maintained a particularly pervasive media presence since coming to power after the death of his father Kim Jong-Il in 2011.
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There will never be any genuine effort to hold the religious orders or their members to account for the institutionalised slavery, abuse and crimes against humanity carried out in the laundries, as long as the government of the day depends on the votes of God fearing elderly Catholics to stay in power. The magdeline laundries could not have operated without the deference of politician and assistance of our police force, so it’s not surprising that the children and grandchildren who took their relatives seats in the Dail are so reluctant to to the right thing.
@The Risen: Nailed it. It always comes down to votes and cash. The criminals will continue to get away scot free as long as their tribe of devoted followers have votes. There’s no political will in Ireland to prosecute criminals in the Catholic church.
@The Risen: I agree. Its odd though that when the journal published an article on the similarities between how the church and the provos treated their abuse victims you attacked the author of the article. What’s different now?
@The Risen: Very well put
@The Risen: when do expect these God fearing Catholics to expire? And who will they replace the parties with?
@The Risen: I agree but society also needs to hold their hands up and take some blame. Families would willingly hand over siblings etc to the authorities. It amazes me how much control the church had on generation’s. But from the laundries to the mental institutions the people are not blameless. Ok it could be argued that their was a group think mentality at the time but still.
@The Risen: it will never happen in an Ireland governed by the FF/FG merry go round. The main tenet of such governance being that the ‘ establishment protects the establishment at all costs’. NOTHING ever changes in the Status quo.
@The Risen: The redress scheme was projected to get 3,000 application and got 30,000. That cost something like €3 bill. Who is there to be prosecuted? Some old dear in her 90′s with failing memory? I’d prosecute the people responsible for dishing out €3 bill and the lawyers who drew up the statements of claim.
Every nun,priest ,”christian” brother,bishop, cardinal and pope should be dragged before a UN human rights abuse court for what the did in this country ..
@dangermouse: True. Absolute slime.
The govt not prosecuting is an embarrassing they are complicit
@dangermouse: Slime. Govt not prosecuting renders them complicit in my eyes
@Chris Finn: Far more to than that Chris. Doctors, barristers, Gardai, and politicians either knew or were directly involved to some extent, or at least the cover-ups afterwards.
To prosecute members of the church, they also have prosecute others outside the church. That’s why we’ll never see anyone held to account.
@dangermouse: Should’a, could”a, would’a. And let’s be realistic. Dramatisation helps nobody.
@Good Early: The families of these poor souls would have also been well are of what was going on in these places and yet continued to send many women there. No one was forced to hand their daughters over to these people. My own mam knows women who got pregnant in these times. The priests would come looking for them and many of the families told the priests where to go and that no uncertain terms would their daughters be going anywhere.
@dangermouse: UN human rights? They are doing the same themselves with girls in Africa
the people of ireland and families didnt care about these “fallen” women at the time. they were shunned and left on the streets. the only place to take them in was the laundries. ireland of the time was a tough and cruel place. these women greatly suffered but it was everyones fault.
@p kilgannon: More lies. Lonely people working away from home in a country with no contraception and no published information? Of course you had some secret pregnancies. Why worry a family who already had too many children to feed and needed money sent home? I am sure that most of those women never knew what had happened to them at first. It certainly wasn’t something to write home about. It’s such a lie to say they were abandoned by their families. I doubt they ever knew. I see not a single word of blame for the lads who fathered a child in these tough cruel times. That’s so charitable of you.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: no i didnt specifically blame the lads nor did i blame the ladies. no need for you to get so defensive. you are wrong, many women were abandoned by their families when they became pregnant. this is well known and told by the women themselves. this was happening regularly in ireland even in the 1980s.
Who are they going to prosecute. Who is responsible for the laundries . The church , nuns , government . The laundries provided a service that public was quiet happy to use .
Would be difficult to get a conviction…However the state should gave tried a test case….Bring a nun in her 80′s before a court….Find some witnesses to what she did to the women in the laundry…..Leave the decision to a judge…..Defence would be that was accepted culture of the time…..
@John003: piss away money for nothing to come of it. You don’t prosecute unless there is a reasonable chance it will be successful.
@John003: then the civil side of it. The thousands of families who dumped their daughters would need to reconcile inheritance monies with their as yet unknown families.
@lavbeer: Why would the State want to challenge any wills? Those women had no money – otherwise they would have had rights.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: I was thinking of the children themselves challenging Willa they would have been disinherited from? Why not? I would be looking for my rightful place
@lavbeer: And good luck to you if that’s your choice. But I think any independently wealthy family wouldn’t have let a child of theirs be basically sent to the workhouse to be abused. They would be the only people with any assets to pass on. My guess is that most working women were sent into service because there were too many children to feed already. Most had no resources or any voice to begin with. You don’t seriously think that the church split the adoption fee with the girl’s family? I’m pretty sure that they kept every penny of it. Sure they didn’t even bury the children they starved.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: But maybe finance wasn’t the reason for the dis-owning? Only saying families were split and children denied. Wouldn’t you want to know?
The UN has no standing on human rights when some of their council members have the worst record on human rights. I can’t take any of it seriously when the Saudi’s are involved.
So let’s release all the “excitable boys” into the community. Or let’s build more jails to house the current inmates. Let’s worry about the cost later. A sure why not tax all those pesky workers even more…
The UN…one of the most pointless & useless organisations around… who cares what they say?
I dont believe in tarring everyone with the same brush ,lets not forget there was good nuns and priests doing sterling work in all fields .The mob mentality does nothing but divide us as a people .there are many storys i can recollect of wrong done ,personal stories ,but others where great human kindness was shown .there will always be legacy issues ,those that done terrible things and got away with it ,but lets not be judge and jury .society in those days had a victorian mindset ,IS it not wonderful to see how our social and moral values have changed for the better .
Human rights for all except single mothers and their babies.
The price of sin is the surrender of basic human rights.
That time has passed and the generation that were so fearful…respectful… of the religious are dying out literally, like myself. By all means prosecute, if there is evidence against any individual which can be proven, but take small comfort in the fact that no child today is afraid of a priest, nun, brother, or anyone higher up the God chain.it is over.
The chances of legal accountability of the perpetrators are zero.
@Tony Daly: Yes, you can tell by the way that the ‘sinful’ fathers-to-be were locked up, humiliated and beaten until they were able to provide for their natural child. Oh, wait.
The chances of legal accountability of the perpetrators are zero.
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