If Kim Jong Un Dies, Would His Sister Rule?
Multiple media outlets have claimed that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un lies comatose from a botched heart procedure, although President Trump on April 27 seemed to suggest that he was fine—or soon would be.
Still, something seems to be amiss in the North where, according to the South Korean defense minister, there has been an “unusual increase” in air force flight operations and artillery’s readiness drills. And, across the border in China, a column of transports was seen moving heavy tanks in the direction of the border crossing at Dandong.
Even assuming Kim’s current health crisis, if that’s what it is, soon passes, it is worth asking what happens in North Korea when his embalmed body joins those of his father and grandfather in the Kim Il-sung Mausoleum in Pyongyang.
That day may not be all that long in coming. Carrying an estimated 300 pounds on his 5’6” frame, and with porcine jowls, Kim Jong Un is morbidly obese. Add to this his diabetes, his fondness for wine and cheese, his cigarette habit (four packs a day) and his family history of coronary artery disease, and it is no exaggeration to say that he is a walking heart attack.
In the event Kim does not recover from his current health crisis, if that’s what it is, or suffers another fatal one in the next few years, which seems possible, who would succeed him? And what, if anything, would change in North Korea’s repressive domestic or foreign policies? -- More...
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