North Korea ...again

[Silverton End]

56 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said:

 

 

 

That first photo looks suspiciously like Granny Danger's back yard.

Aye, those pebbledashed walls do look familiar

[John Lambies Doos]

What ones Kim?

He takes what he wants

[KnightswoodBear]

1 hour ago, Herman Hessian said:

hmmmm - looks very much like the same desk/chair/binocular combo as in his earlier "launch watching" pic but viewed from a different angle - only someone's now nicked his table lamp

presumably they're both grinning as the thief is kicked to death just out of shot...

of more immediate concern - how short are his arms - can he even wipe his own arse ?

That's just reminded me of this

[The DA]

1 hour ago, Herman Hessian said:

hmmmm - looks very much like the same desk/chair/binocular combo as in his earlier "launch watching" pic but viewed from a different angle - only someone's now nicked his table lamp

presumably they're both grinning as the thief is kicked to death just out of shot...

of more immediate concern - how short are his arms - can he even wipe his own arse ?

Come on.  What's the point of being Supreme Leader if you have to wipe your own arse?

[Granny Danger]

2 hours ago, Jacksgranda said:

That first photo looks suspiciously like Granny Danger's back yard.

There’s no way I would allow a bloodthirsty megalomaniac with a strange haircut in my house. 

The missus wouldn’t want the competition.

  

[Herman Hessian]

hmmm - the suit - the desk and chair - the immaculately coiffeured hair  -  the exaggerated posturing- I think we can see quite clearly who Kim is channeling here

Carry On Up The Jong' Un ???

 

[bendan]

They don't know whether he's dead or alive, bu they do know what cheese he likes:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11495747/kim-jong-un-train-north-korea-dictator-virgins/

The whole staffed-by-virgins thing is, of course, already well established. 

[welshbairn]

Big Kim's self isolation bolthole.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-northkorea-kim-wonsan/satellite-images-of-luxury-boats-further-suggest-north-koreas-kim-at-favoured-villa-experts-idUKKCN22B0W9

[Highland Capital]

Found this video quite interesting.

 

[NotThePars]

On 26/04/2020 at 22:33, tamthebam said:

The Soviet Union used to do it too when I was young- Breznhev, Andropov and Chernenko were three decrepit leaders in succession and no-one ever knew whether they were alive or dead. They made their US equivalent Ronnie Reagan look positively vigorous in comparison.

I think they eventually got fed up and gave the job to Gorby on the grounds that he was likely to last more than 6 months.

We do it as well. The Queen and Prince Philip have been dead since 2017.

[Raidernation]

Keith Richards has been dead for 30 years, nobody’s got round to telling him yet though

[NorthernLights]

The great leader has been seen in public apparently.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52508437

[bendan]

7 hours ago, NorthernLights said:

The great leader has been seen in public apparently.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52508437

A follow up article from the BBC on all the rumours.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52511812

 

[Guest JTS98]

11 minutes ago, bendan said:

A follow up article from the BBC on all the rumours.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52511812

 

The tone of the article is wrong in that it asserts a few times that nothing unusual was going on and seems to imply that the speculation surrounding him was hysteria. It wasn't. It was a reasonable response to him going missing.

The fact of Kim's absence from public view is unusual and the fact that it happened over an important anniversary tells us that something was/is wrong There is no doubt about that. As the article itself states, when this happened before it had been for medical reasons.

A few media organisations made a big deal about his private train being at Wonsan and that meaning all was well. There is no basis for that whatsoever. It could equally have been true that he had died in Wonsan or that his body had been moved there or was that he had fallen sick there or was recovering from surgery there (that may yet turn out to actually be true).

When he does die, this is exactly the kind of silence we can expect. Especially if he still hasn't got a clearly identified successor. When his old man died, North Korea delayed the announcement, and based on satellite photos South Korea think they delayed the announcement by even more than is generally agreed.

So, looks like he's not dead this time. But every time he disappears like this it will (quite reasonably) be speculated that he might have shuffled off to the great dictatorship in the sky. And one of these times that will be correct.

[bendan]

6 minutes ago, JTS98 said:

The tone of the article is wrong in that it asserts a few times that nothing unusual was going on and seems to imply that the speculation surrounding him was hysteria. It wasn't. It was a reasonable response to him going missing.

The fact of Kim's absence from public view is unusual and the fact that it happened over an important anniversary tells us that something was/is wrong There is no doubt about that. As the article itself states, when this happened before it had been for medical reasons.

 

So you think that in the middle of a pandemic (even though NK claims to have no cases), it would be unusual for public events to be cancelled or for the leader to not attend?

I'd agree that him not appearing on April 15 is highly unusual, but we are living in highly unusual times.

Edited May 2, 2020 by bendan

[Guest JTS98]

1 minute ago, bendan said:

So you think that in the middle of the coronavirus (even though NK claims to have no cases), it would be unusual for public events to be cancelled or for the leader to not attend?

I'd agree that him not appearing on April 15 is highly unusual, but we are living in highly unusual times.

It wasn't cancelled. He missed it for reasons that North Korea have not explained.

They could have recorded a message or taken a date-verifiable picture of him signing something.

They did not. This left North Korea looking vulnerable from the outside and opened the door for his grip on power to be questioned. There is no way they would have chosen this path.

Something was clearly wrong.

[bendan]

1 minute ago, JTS98 said:

It wasn't cancelled. He missed it for reasons that North Korea have not explained.

 

Well I did say 'or for the leader to not attend'. Would the KCNA say Kim Jong Un was afraid of showing up because of the coronavirus, which we don't have? That's a rhetorical question.

[Guest JTS98]

1 minute ago, bendan said:

Well I did say 'or for the leader to not attend'. Would the KCNA say Kim Jong Un was afraid of showing up because of the coronavirus, which we don't have? That's a rhetorical question.

No. But they'd have a better explanation than no explanation.

He'd be dealing with an emergency threat from the Americans, paying tribute to his grandda by giving a motivational speech to sojurs, or saving babies from a well or some such thing.

If there was any way they could have recorded a speech or taken a verifiable photo of him, or had him call a friendly leader abroad, such as Putin, they would have done so.

They did none of these things.

There is absolutely no angle you can approach this from that explains why we saw or heard nothing from him that doesn't involve a problem. North Korea would never choose to display any kind of weakness or allow any kind of doubts over Kim's hold on power.

[bendan]

3 minutes ago, JTS98 said:

No. But they'd have a better explanation than no explanation.

He'd be dealing with an emergency threat from the Americans, paying tribute to his grandda by giving a motivational speech to sojurs, or saving babies from a well or some such thing.

If there was any way they could have recorded a speech or taken a verifiable photo of him, or had him call a friendly leader abroad, such as Putin, they would have done so.

They did none of these things.

There is absolutely no angle you can approach this from that explains why we saw or heard nothing from him that doesn't involve a problem. North Korea would never choose to display any kind of weakness or allow any kind of doubts over Kim's hold on power.

But these kind of things have happened multiple times over the years. The north Korean regime would just as likely see it as weakness to respond to rumour mongering in the western  media. The vast majority of people there would be none the wiser anyway, as they'd be seeing repeats of KJU/KJI/KIS doing various 'field trips' on KCTV, just like normal.

[Guest JTS98]

2 minutes ago, bendan said:

But these kind of things have happened multiple times over the years. The north Korean regime would just as likely see it as weakness to respond to rumour mongering in the western  media. The vast majority of people there would be none the wiser anyway, as they'd be seeing repeats of KJU/KJI/KIS doing various 'field trips' on KCTV, just like normal.

Yes, but there are resistance movements in the North. And they have contact with defectors outside the country. There is no chance the North Koreans allow rumours like this to get moving if they have the chance to stop them.

Important to remember, stopping them would not look like bowing to foreign pressure. Business as usual stops the rumours. Kim opening a factory, or calling someone abroad, or giving a speech, or whatever. If any of these things could have been done, they would have been.

Can you think of any reason why they'd allow him to be radio silence for so long? How is it to their advantage?

You're right that it's happened before, but only when there have been problems.

My guesses would be 1) He's maybe had the covid. 2) He possibly had a cold or flu or something that could have looked like the covid. 3) Heart surgery or some such thing. 4) An attempted coup which has been foiled.

There is no way the North Koreans have been sitting quite happily for the last few weeks while outsiders speculate that the man their entire regime is built around is dead or close to death while easily able to stop it. Absolutely no way.