- North Korea observers are poring over a new batch of images of Kim Jong Un
- He appears to have gained weight when he is pictured receiving Vladimir Putin.
- READ MORE: Putin and Kim disagree over who should get into his limo first
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday revived a Cold War-era mutual defense pledge.
But that wasn’t all North Korea watchers noticed during Putin’s visit to the hermit kingdom.
Sue Mi Terry, a former CIA analyst, said Kim looked sick.
“My first reaction when I looked at Kim Jong Un was, ‘Ugh, he doesn’t look very good to me,'” he told CNN.
‘There was a time when he lost a little weight and looked better. So my initial reaction was that she didn’t seem healthy, because we always keep track of his health anyway.’
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin in his capital, Pyongyang, on Tuesday and Wednesday as they agreed on a defense pact.
Kim’s weight status is not just a matter of gossip.
An entire industry has grown up around tracking the ups and downs of your waistline.
Without a publicly named successor, intelligence chiefs fear his sudden incapacitation could throw the poor, nuclear-armed country into chaos.
Collins explained that the lack of reliable information from North Korea meant that analysts studied images of Kim to get an idea of how he was doing.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service maintains especially close surveillance.
Three years ago he said Kim had lost 44 pounds. He estimated his weight dropped from about 308 pounds to about 264, according to lawmakers briefed on his findings.
Putin’s overnight visit offers the opportunity to study a series of new images of the North Korean leader with a swollen and reddened face.
Questions about your health arise approximately every year.
Last year he disappeared from public view for more than a month, sparking speculation that he was ill.
Analyst Sue Mi Terry said Kim appeared to have put on weight and looked unhealthy.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service used images of Kim in 2021 to estimate that the North Korean leader lost 44 pounds
Some of the most serious concerns emerged in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic engulfed the world.
A website run by North Korean defectors said he had been battling heart problems for months.
CNN reported that Washington was monitoring intelligence that Kim was in “grave danger.”
Japanese media followed with an unconfirmed report that he was in a “vegetative state” after surgery to relieve pressure on a congested blood vessel.
President Donald Trump then intervened to say the rumors were “incorrect.”
