"Photos of Kim Jong Un Released by North Korea Are a Deception"... Debate Over Death Rumors Continues

Chinese dissident Xie Wanjun first floats rumors of Kim Jong Un's death
North Korean state media releases family photos; claims emerge of a "hoax involving a body double"

After rumors emerged that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had died of a cerebral hemorrhage, suspicions arose that the person who appeared afterward was a stand-in, drawing worldwide attention.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Yonhap News Agency

According to the New York Post on Oct. 21 (local time), the rumors spread after Xie Wanjun, a Chinese dissident living in the United States who is linked to the Chinese Democratic Party, recently claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that Kim had died.

Xie initially claimed that Kim had died and that China had sent 9,000 troops to Pyongyang over concerns about a succession crisis in North Korea. He later claimed that a team of specialist doctors from Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing had been dispatched to North Korea to treat Kim, who had suffered a severe cerebral hemorrhage.

As the rumors continued, North Korea's state-run Rodong Sinmun sought to quell them by releasing photos of Kim out on an activity with his family. However, some continue to claim that the photos were staged in advance or that North Korea used a stand-in actor with a different facial outline and earlobe shape to deceive the public.

Major international media outlets and social media platforms are engaged in a debate over the truth of the rumors about Kim Jong Un's death. British outlet The Sun reported, "Widespread rumors about Kim's health are spreading rapidly on social media."

Views among internet users overseas are also divided. One X user said, "The photos released by North Korea may be a deception hastily put together to hide the fact that something serious has happened to Kim." Another user countered, "There is no reason to be swayed by baseless rumors when he was clearly visible at an official North Korean event."

The South Korean government and security agencies are approaching the matter cautiously while dismissing the allegations. A government official said, "We believe the claims that Kim has died or that a stand-in has been used are entirely untrue, and we have detected no unusual movements inside North Korea."

Experts say North Korea's tightly controlled and closed system contributes to the recurring spread of fake news. Lee Young-jong, a North Korea expert and center director at the Institute for National Strategy, said on a YouTube channel, "Because Kim's movements are shrouded in secrecy, posts by overseas dissidents and unverified rumors repeatedly spread indiscriminately through financial markets and the media."

Meanwhile, rumors of Kim's death also surfaced in 2020. After he missed the April event marking Kim Il Sung's birthday that year, speculation about surgery and his death spread. But the rumors proved false when he appeared at the May 1 completion ceremony for the Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.