KCNA the only news agency of North Korea celebrates Supreme Leader amidst Kim Jong Un death rumors

The eyes of the world is on North Korea waiting for a confirmation on the whereabouts of the Supreme Leader
Beijing-backed TV boss has claimed that Kim Jong Un is dead
China has dispatched a team including doctors to North Korea

By Johnlee Varghese
April 26, 2020 02:32 +08

The eyes of the entire world media currently are on the North Korea state-media, waiting for any sign that could confirm whether Kim Jong Un is dead or alive.

The only mention of the Supreme Leader in KCNA --- which is the only news agency in North Korea daily that reports the news for all the news organizations in the country including newspapers, radio, and television broadcasts --- was about a story celebrating Kim Jong Un's first Russia visit.

April 25 could have been a good day for the missing Supreme Leader to make a public appearance but the state-controlled media in North Korea on Saturday focused on news items celebrating the foundation day of its armed forces even as Kim Jong Un remained absent.

South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that television coverage in the secretive northern state spent the day trumpeting the 88th anniversary of the birth of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army (KPRA), which falls on April 25, without the nation's chief heralding the event.

The only mention that Kim Jong Un found in KCNA was with regards to his Russia visit. This is what the North Korean news agency report had to say:

Pyongyang, April 25 (KCNA) -- Leading newspapers here Saturday observe the 1st anniversary of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un's official friendly visit to the Russian Federation.

The press says that Kim Jong Un met Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, president of the Russian Federation, for the first time and had talks with him on April 25, Juche 108 (2019).

Rodong Sinmun says in an article that Kim Jong Un's first visit to Russia is a historic event which laid a foundation of the DPRK-Russia relations and offered a new turning-point occasion for the development of the strategic and traditional friendly relations between the two countries in the new era.

It goes on:

The immortal exploits performed by President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il for the development of the DPRK-Russia friendship are creditably carried forward by Kim Jong Un.

Thanks to his energetic external activities, the ties of friendship between the peoples of the two countries which have continued through generations and centuries grow stronger with each passing day.

The DPRK and Russia have kept step with each other in major issues of international relations and worked hard for peace and security in Northeast Asia and the rest of the world, as well as fair international order.

It is the firm will of the Korean people to boost the long-standing and traditional friendly relations between the DPRK and Russia.

Minju Joson says in an article that the DPRK-Russia relations will grow stronger on a higher level under the deep care of the top leaders of the two countries, overcoming all sorts of trials and challenges in line with the long history and tradition of friendship in the future, too.

Chinese team including doctors are in North Korea: Is Kim Jong Un dead or gravely ill?

A Reuters report was the first to reveal the presence of a Chinese team also comprising of doctors in North Korea.

The development came just as reports citing a Beijing-backed satellite TV channel's vice director, who is also a niece of a Chinese foreign minister told her 15 million followers on Weibo that her Kim Jong Un death claim was backed by a "very solid source." An image claiming to show Kim Jong Un inside a glass coffin has also gone viral.

Reports now have appeared that claim that the Chinese doctors are in Hyang San Hospital, which has a special facility to deal with heart-related medical issues and it was in this hospital Kim Jong Un underwent heart surgery.

It is rumored that the Supreme Leader is brain dead and in a vegetative state after things went south during the stent surgery, as per Japanese media. However, a Reuters report citing South Korean sources claimed that the Supreme Leader is alive and will make a public appearance soon.

The veracity of these claims can not be established till there is a report from KCNA but the agency has eerily been silent.