URGENT QUESTION: There are rumors that North Korean leader #KimJongUn is dead or in a vegetative state. Other reports say he's "alive and well". What's the truth? We asked Ambassador Joe Detrani, former US Special Envoy for the Six Party Talks. Follow this thread for the answer. 
ANSWER: "Since North Korea’s Kim Jung-un was last seen in public, at the April 11th meeting of the Politburo of the Korean Workers’ Party, rumors about Kim’s health have been rampant. Fueling these rumors was Kim’s absence from the annual April 15th celebration of
the birth of Kim il-sung and the April 25th Army day celebration. Recent foreign media reports mention the visit of a medical delegation from China, headed by China’s International Liaison Department (ILD) Minister, Song Tao,
China’s senior Party official who maintains routine party-to-party relations with North Korea. If this is accurate, which it appears to be, then it is likely Kim did have a medical procedure performed, probably related to his heart,
given the history of heart problems with his father and grandfather and Kim’s own issues with weight and smoking. The fact that Kim’s personal train has been at his Wonsan East Coast residence since at least April 21 probably indicates that Kim is at this residence recuperating,
if indeed he had a medical procedure for a heart problem. The fact that the North Korean media published messages from Kim to foreign leaders and to North Korean workers thanking them for work they’ve constructing the Wonsan-Kalma Tourist indicates
that North Korea wants to show that Kim is alive and active. So, it’s likely Kim is alive. But if succession ever becomes an issue, Kim did appoint his sister, Kim Yo-jung yo the Politburo as an alternate member.
It appears that the others in the Kim family would be supportive of her role, despite a cultural preference for a male as the supreme leader. Kim in 2019 also appointed Choe Ryong-hae, a loyalist, as the new President of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the defacto head of state.
The bottom line, however, is that we won’t know the status of Kim Jung-un until North Korea tells us."
More about Joe Detrani here: sandia.gov/about/BofM/det…
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