Is Kim Jong so ill he needs surgery?

[TexasLawyer]

Is Kim Jong so ill he needs surgery?

By Sergei Soukhorukov in Beijing
Last Updated: 12:56am BST 10/06/2007

Kim Jong Il, North Korea's reclusive leader, has been so unwell that he could not walk more than 30 yards without a rest, western governments have been told.

Diplomats in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, are increasingly convinced that the 65-year-old dictator needs heart surgery to restore his apparently flagging health. He has had to be accompanied by an assistant carrying a chair so that, wherever he goes, he can sit and catch his breath.

Speculation about the state of Kim's health was heightened when a team of six doctors from the German Heart Institute in Berlin flew to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, for eight days last month. Kim, who also suffers from diabetes, was believed by diplomats to have been among those on the list for treatment by the combined medical and surgical team. But a spokesman for the German team said they had only treated three labourers, a nurse and a scientist.

Kim's public appearances have been curtailed this year and he has appeared in public only 23 times, compared with 42 times at the same point last year - an indication, observers say, of his declining health. The suggestion that he underwent an operation offered an apparent explanation for his recent month-long disappearance from public view.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/10/wnkor110.xml

[sabbat hunter]

1. who is

kim jong il's heir apparent?

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Bush Would Fit Right In

Just a thought.

[lurky]

3. According to Wikipedia

it is unclear who would succeed him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_jong_il#Internal_politics

Could be messy. Seems like GWB and KJI have similar backgrounds, installed by fathers' loyal allies, etc...

[mconvente]

4. He does have at least one son

So I assume it would be him, but I'm not sure.

[sabbat hunter]

5. i believe he has

three sons, one of which is out of favor due to trying to get an illegal japanese passport a while back

[AngryAmish]

6. wasn't he the one who tried to go to Disneyland a couple years back?

[Matsubara]

7. Not surprising given how overweight he is.

He gorges himself while his imprisoned people starve. Seems like poetic justice, kinda...