When North Korean leader Kim Jong-un spoke at a Workers’ Party gathering, he appeared to have lost a significant amount of weight.
Kim’s figure has shrunk dramatically in recent months, owing to rumoured food difficulties.
According to South Korean estimates, Kim is roughly 170 cm tall and once weighed 130 kg—values that would put him in the obese category on the BMI (Body Mass Index) scale.
On the other hand, Kim has been losing weight rapidly since early this year, with North Korean official media portraying his weight loss as distressing the country and leaving him looking “emaciated” in June.
Food shortages have been reported in North Korea as a result of severe flooding and supply challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic, with the closing of the communist state’s border with China compounding the problem.
According to multiple Western media reports, the government, which is notoriously tight-lipped about the country’s internal challenges, appears to have admitted the situation, indicating that Kim is eating less “for the good of the country.”
Other Western media sources have stated that Kim warned his compatriots to expect hardship this summer, comparing the country’s position to the ‘Arduous March’ of the 1990s, a period of economic collapse and hunger.
Kim celebrated ten years in power earlier this month, having ascended to the throne following his father’s death in 2011.
He has ignored UN sanctions during that time and has proceeded to build the country’s ballistic missile programme.
Despite multiple meetings with former US President Donald Trump, he made little progress toward nuclear disarmament and received no relief from US sanctions in return.
(With inputs from agencies)
