US Senator Lindsey Graham has said he would be “shocked” if North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un wasn’t dead, the New York Post reports, amid mounting rumors that the country's dictator is either dead or permanently incapacitated.
“It’s a closed society. I haven’t heard anything directly, but I’ll be shocked if he’s not dead or in some incapacitated state because you don’t let rumors like this go forever or go unanswered in a closed society which is really a cult, not a country, called North Korea,” Graham told Fox News.
Earlier this month, Kim missed the annual "Day of the Sun" celebrations, marking the birthday of his grandfather Kim Il Sung, who founded the current regime. It was the first time he had ever failed to appear on the anniversary, one of the country's most important national holidays since he came to power in 2011.
Kim is just 36 years old, but is severely overweight and suffering from various undisclosed health problems. Several reports state that he is recovering from cardiovascular surgery; last week, a Japanese magazine reported that the surgery had "gone wrong" and that the dictator was in a vegetative state.
According to The Telegraph, Robert O'Brien, the US National Security Adviser, has confirmed that Washington is "keeping a close eye" on reports regarding Kim's health, but The Telegraph also noted that this isn't the first time that Kim has disappeared from the public eye later to reappear, and that hopes that he has actually died this time may yet be dashed.