Kim Jong-un walks unaided as he ‘recovers from surgery’
05 November
Kim Jong-un has been photographed walking unaided for the first time since July , following long-standing rumours about his ill health.
The North Korean leader was meeting military commanders at an army event earlier this week, the state news agency reports. He was seen walking without a cane he had been using since he reappeared in the public eye.
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Kim had been missing for over a month, during which time various theories emerged about his whereabouts, with some commentators even suggesting that a military coup had taken place.
No official details have been released by Pyongyang on the matter, except to say that the leader was suffering from an "uncomfortable physical condition".
South Korean intelligence maintains that the 31-year old leader underwent surgery to remove a cyst which was pinching a nerve in his ankle, causing it to swell, the BBC reports.
Separately, commentators have noticed some "mischievously positioned" toys in the background of an official photo released by state media last month.
The photos show the leader touring a "suspiciously empty" orphanage and were designed to put an end to the rumours of his ill health.
However, "on a cupboard, someone has carefully positioned a pair of brand new soft toys in what can only be described as a compromising position," explains the Daily Telegraph's Julian Ryall.
Ryall warns that as a dictator known for ordering the execution of his own family members, Kim is "unlikely to see the funny side of the prank."
Kim Jong-un: six top officials vanish in alleged execution
23 October
The disappearance of several top officials in North Korea has prompted speculation that Kim Jong-un was overseeing a major purge during his time away from the public eye.
The North Korea dictator vanished from the spotlight for 40 days, leading to theories that he was suffering from gout and broken ankles or had even been overthrown in a coup.
But photos of the leader reappeared last week and, with them, tales of executions in the higher echelons of Pyongyang.
A "well-informed" source told South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper that "six minister-level officials were executed".
Sim Chol-ho, the telecommunication minister, is among those currently missing from public view. Others reported to have disappeared include Ma Won-chun, a prominent architect and construction official. As deputy director of the Workers' Party, a post equivalent to a vice minister, Ma was often photographed at Kim's side, but he has been absent in state media for more than two months.
Aidan Foster-Carter, an honorary senior research fellow in sociology and modern Korea at Leeds University, told The Independent that JoongAng Ilbo is South Korea's most reputable daily paper, making reports of a purge more credible.
"Unlike too many Western media sources on North Korea, its agenda is serious rather than tabloid. So the story of a purge is plausible," he said. However, he added that "North Korea elites do go in and out of the limelight" and two months is not long to be absent in the circumstances.
Foster-Carter disagreed that Ri Yong-gil, chief of the General Staff of the North Korean People's Army, was likely to have been executed, as suggested by the newspaper. "He was actually promoted on 25 September, so I doubt he has been purged," he said.
It is not the first time reports of a purge have emerged. Kim is believed to have executed his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, and other prominent figures in December in what the dictator described as the removal of "factionalist filth".
Kim Jong-un: North Korean leader reappears with walking stick
14 October
Kim Jong-un has made his first public appearance in over a month, walking with the aid of a cane at a science centre in Pyongyang, according to the state news agency.
The North Korean leader's prolonged absence from public life had prompted fierce speculation about his ill health, and even the possibility of a leadership coup.
Kim had not appeared in public since attending a concert with his wife on 3 September. Footage broadcast by state media had shown him walking with a pronounced limp in previous months.
Theories surrounding the leader's unprecedented absence ranged from a change in leadership to health problems including gout, broken ankles and diabetes.
The state report – which made no mention of his absence or his walking stick – was released on Tuesday, but did not specify when the visit took place.
Kim toured the newly built Natural Energy Institute of the State Academy of Sciences and was accompanied by Hwang Pyong-so, head of the North Korean army and Kim's second-in-command, as well as other senior officials.
A North Korean defector told Reuters that Kim's sudden reappearance may have been designed to dispel rumours of political instability, just days after North Korea fired shells towards the South.
The BBC's South Korea correspondent Stephen Evans agrees. "What the pictures clearly show is that he is at the centre of power," he said.
However, he also says the latest images will fail to reassure observers about his health. "The photographs are still pictures, so it's impossible to know how easily Kim Jong-un is walking – did he walk for long, was he standing simply for the photographer?" asks Evans.
Kim Jong-un: another 'no-show' as North Korea fires on South
10 October
North and South Korea have traded fire the day after Kim Jong-un failed to attend the ruling Workers' Party's anniversary celebrations, fuelling speculation about his wellbeing and whereabouts.
North Korea apparently fired shells towards balloons carrying leaflets condemning the North Korean leader. When some landed south of the border, South Korean forces by firing back.
"There was no immediate information on whether there were any casualties," the BBC reports.
The incident comes amid ongoing concern about the stability of the North Korean regime. Officials attended a ceremony at Kumsusan Palace, the mausoleum for previous leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, in order to celebrate the party's 69th anniversary yesterday, but Kim Jong-un did not make an appearance.
It was the third important event he has missed, following his absence from a specially convened parliamentary session last month and the closing ceremony of last week's Asia Games. The 31 year-old leader has not been seen in public for over a month.
This unprecedented absence has fuelled rumours of illness, serious injury or worse. Some commentators have even suggested that he has been placed under house arrest following a coup.
"This 'no show' by Kim Jong-un increases the feeling that something untoward has happened," writes the BBC's Steve Evans in Seoul. He discounts allegations of coup and believes that Kim "is probably on his sick bed but with undiminished power."
However, Chung Young-Chul, a professor of North Korean studies at Sogang University in Seoul believes Kim's continuing absence will "force us to consider the possibility that it's more serious than we thought," he told the Daily Telegraph.
In the absence of solid information, speculation about his condition is increasing. Here are the leading theories about what is happening in North Korea:
Kim Jong-un is ill
The dominant theory appears to be that Kim's absence has been enforced by ill health, since the state is reluctant to show its leader exhibiting signs of weakness or illness.
Reports from a South Korean newspaper earlier this month suggested that the leader had fractured both his ankles, an injury that was attributed to his excessive weight. Rumours of gout also surfaced after he was seen walking with a pronounced limp at an event last month. The leader also has a family history of diabetes and heart disease.
Last week, Pyongyang issued a rare statement on Kim's health, saying that he was suffering from an "uncomfortable physical condition", but offered no further information. However, South Korea's unification minister Ryoo Kihl-jae consequently said there was "nothing wrong with the health of Secretary Kim".
There has been a coup
Jang Jin-sung, a former high-ranking North Korean official turned defector, claimed the government's Organisation and Guidance Department (OGD), which who used to answer to Kim, has seized control of the country.
However, South Korea has denied the reports and officials in Washington have dismissed the rumours as "wishful thinking", the New York Times reports.
Business as usual
Not everyone is convinced that anything is awry in Pyongyang. "Kim Jong-un's disappearing act over the past month, in the North Korean context, is not an aberration," Lee Sung-yoon, a North Korea expert at Tufts University told CNN. "Such vanishing acts would be most unusual in democracies, but in totalitarian North Korea, Kim is the state. He is free to come and go as pleases."
North Korean diplomats in New York in Geneva have dismissed all of the claims, calling it "part of efforts by their country’s external enemies to spread disinformation to undermine the Pyongyang government." Despite the rumour-mill running in overdrive, the message from North Korea "is still of Kim’s benevolent greatness", writes The Guardian's Christopher Green.
Michael Green, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies concludes: "I don't think anybody outside of Pyongyang really knows" what is going on.
Kim Jong-un: doubts emerge about coup claims
6 October
Claims made last week that Kim Jong-un had lost his grip on power and been reduced to little more than a puppet leader are being reassessed after a weekend in which North Korean officials projected an air of "business as usual".
Jang Jin-sung, a former North Korean counter-intelligence officer, made the claim that Kim had lost charge of the country at a conference of high-ranking exiles who met in Holland last week. The gathering included a senior military officer, a former official of the Ministry of Security and a number of top diplomats, Vice News reports.
North Korea-watchers have expressed scepticism, especially after representatives of the regime travelled to South Korea at the weekend. During the surprise visit, Hwang Pyong-so, the man many regard as Pyongyang's second in command, said he had been asked to deliver a "heartfelt greeting" from Kim Jong-un to South Korean president Park Geun-hye.
After another round of rumours about the president's apparent weight problem, South Korea's unification minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said on a TV talk show on Sunday that as far as he was aware there was "nothing wrong with the health of Secretary Kim".
But questions over both the physical and political resilience of North Korea's young leader have continued.
Kim has made no public appearance since 3 September and has missed a number of high-profile events he usually attends.
Recent footage of the leader showed him overweight and limping. A rare admission by North Korean state media that Kim had experienced "discomfort" during a series of factory inspections led to "frenzied speculation and close scrutiny of any mention of the young leader in state media," The Guardian says.
On Fridays reports emerged that the North Korean capital of Pyongyang had gone into "lockdown". The respected New Focus International news website reports that "entry and exit permissions" were restricted on 27 September, limiting the movement of Pyongyang residents who, according to the Daily Telegraph, are "by definition the elite of the regime".
"This sort of action suggests there has either been an attempted coup or that the authorities there have uncovered some sort of plot against the leadership," Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Tokyo's Waseda University and an authority on North Korean affairs, told the Telegraph. "If it is a military-backed coup, then the situation in Pyongyang will be very dangerous and I have heard reports that Kim has been moved out of the capital."
However, leading Korea-watchers expressed doubt that the visit by North Korean officials to the South would have gone ahead if Kim had lost control of the country. "This kind of travel would be way too out there if anything serious was going on in North Korea, so I don’t think it’s a sign of a coup," John Delury of Yonsei University in Seoul told the Washington Post.
Kookmin University's Andrei Lankov agreed, suggesting that the visit was part of North Korea's recent "charm offensive".
"North Korean diplomacy has been engaged in concerted, well-arranged, well-managed efforts to improve relations with pretty much the entire outside world," he told the Post. "And you would not expect it to happen with nobody in control."
Kim Jong-un: obese leader 'fractured both ankles'
1 October
Kim Jong-un has broken both his ankles and is in hospital in Pyongyang recovering from surgery, according to a South Korean newspaper.
It is believed the injury is a direct result of his excessive weight. The North Korean ruler is believed to weigh over 20 stone, reportedly due to his heavy drinking and an overindulgence in Swiss cheese.
"Kim Jong-un injured his right ankle in June after pushing ahead with on-site visits and ended up fracturing both ankles because he left the injury unattended," an anonymous source was quoted as saying in the Chosun Ilbo, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The 31-year-old leader had been absent from the public eye for more than three weeks and missed an important parliamentary session last week, fuelling speculation about his ill health.
In a rare display of honesty about their leader's health, the North Korean government finally confirmed last week that Kim Jong-un was suffering from an "uncomfortable physical condition", The Guardian reports.
The operation on his ankles was reportedly carried out in mid-September and Kim is believed to still be in hospital under heavy security, amid speculation that European doctors have been flown in to treat him.
Kim Jong-un health: leader fails to appear in parliament
26 September
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has failed to attend a specially convened parliamentary session in Pyongyang yesterday, fuelling speculation about his ill health.
The ruler had not missed a session at the Supreme People's Assembly since he was sworn into power in 2011.
His absence from public life has generated much discussion in South Korea and abroad, but no mention of it has been made by the authoritarian North Korean media, according to the Associated Press.
Kim has not appeared in public since attending a concert with his wife on 3 September. Footage broadcast by state media had shown him walking with a pronounced limp in previous months.
His weight has "ballooned" since he came to power, reportedly due to an obsession with cheese. His father's death was attributed to high blood pressure and diabetes, "apparently linked to his appreciation of expensive French brandy and fine cuisine", the Daily Telegraph reports.
"There have been lots of reports that Kim is not in good health, supported by video footage of him walking with a noticeable limp at an event in July and again earlier this month," said Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Tokyo's Waseda University and expert on North Korean affairs.
He speculates that Kim's absence from the public eye may also be connected to an ongoing power struggle within the North Korean military. "Or, there is the possibility that there has been some sort of accident," he suggests.
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