Slimmer, more energetic Kim Jong Un appears at North Korean parade

Seoul, South Korea – North Korea held a parade on Thursday featuring military dogs and anti-virus officers dressed in orange protective suits, but frontman Kim Jong Un still managed to grab attention by looking slimmer and more energetic than ‘he hasn’t done that in years. At Wednesday night’s event, Kim, dressed in a cream-colored suit and shiny white tie, appeared as the clock struck midnight. He beamed in response to thunderous applause from performers and spectators filling Pyongyang’s illuminated Kim Il Sung Square, named after his grandfather, the country’s founder.

He smiled widely, waved to the crowd and hugged the children who presented him with flowers before taking a seat on a balcony to watch the parade. He laughed vigorously and applauded the marchers throughout the event, while having lively discussions with senior officials.

It was a dramatic change from 2018, when TV footage showed him struggling to catch his breath while accompanying South Korean President Moon Jae-in on a short hike to Mount Paektu in North Korea for a period. diplomatic engagement. Moon, who is three decades older than Kim, didn’t seem at all baffled by the walk.

“His face is clearly thinner and he moves much more vigorously,” said Park Won-gon, professor of North Korea studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

Kim’s weight loss stood out in June, when he made his first public appearance in weeks to call a ruling party meeting. Some North Korean observers then said Kim, who is around 5 feet 8 inches and previously weighed 308 pounds, may have lost 22 to 44 pounds.

Most experts say Kim’s weight loss is more likely the result of efforts to improve her form than an indicator of health issues, given her regular public activity. It can also have a political purpose.

Kim faces perhaps his most difficult moment as a decade of rule approaches, with North Korea grappling with US-led economic sanctions on its nuclear weapons, pandemic border closures that worsen its shattered economy and food shortages made worse by flooding in recent summers.

It has become crucial for Kim to carve out an image of himself as a young and vigorous leader capable of pulling the country out of trouble, analyst Park said. Such imaging efforts would line up with the latest parade, which featured civil defense units involved in efforts to rebuild the economy and communities destroyed by the floods and emphasized a national message for unity.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the Seoul University of North Korean Studies, said Kim, with his weight loss and cheerful demeanor during the parade, was probably trying to project the image of a “man from” Normal state “which engages with the public.

“He’s also a husband and father of three approaching his forties, so it’s not strange that he cares about his health,” Yang said.

Kim’s health is the subject of much outside attention, as the 37-year-old leader has not publicly named a successor who would take control of North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal targeting Asian rivals and the American homeland. He is known for his excessive consumption of alcohol and tobacco and comes from a family with a history of heart problems. His father and grandfather, who ruled North Korea before him, both died of heart problems.

“Given the political system in the North, where the supreme leader decides everything, Kim’s health is an extremely important safety issue,” Park said. “It is likely that there were internal concerns about his being overweight, and it would have been important for Kim to reduce those concerns and present himself as a young, healthy leader who can get it right.”

Dr Cheong Seong-Chang, director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute in South Korea, told CBS News that Kim might also have wanted, with the parade, to “show the world that the North Korea is safe from the coronavirus, as they have said time and time again. “