North Korea’s Kim Jong-un missing at celebrations for nation’s founder prompts coronavirus fears for tyrant
NORTH Korea paid tribute to its founding father Kim II Sung as speculation surrounded the country’s current dictator Kim Jong-Un and worries about the coronavirus.
The country’s most important day is April 15, known as the ‘Day of the Sun’, which marks the birthday of the country’s first leader.
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Usually the state marks the occasion with a large military parade and grand public performances, reports
But the Korean Central News Agency said only that a group of senior government, party and military officials paid tribute at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun for Kim Il Sung's 108th birthday.
North Korean state media did not say if current leader Kim Jong-Un had visited the mausoleum where the bodies of his grandfather and father, Kim Jong-Il are buried.
It only said floral baskets had been “laid at the statues of the great leaders and mosaics depicting their smiling images.”
According to South Korea's , Kim hasn’t missed visiting the mausoleum during the holiday since inheriting power in 2011.
The official newspaper of North Korea's ruling party, the Rodong Sinmun, also did not show him attending but a floral basket was draped in a banner with his name.
SOCIAL DISTANCING
Observers speculated that Kim may have missed the annual event over fears about the coronavirus.
North Korea though has repeatedly said it has not had any cases of Covid-19 but has implemented social distancing measures.
However, in late March the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported that more than 100 North Korean soldiers who were stationed at the border with China had died from the virus.
It was also claimed by the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo that Kim was spending “considerable time” away from the capital Pyongyang because of the virus.
But an official in South Korea's unification ministry told Yonhap that Kim had visited the mausoleum in mid-February for the birthday of his father.
"It would be very unusual if Kim proves not to visit there,"; the official said Thursday on condition of anonymity.
"There could be various analyses, including the easiest connection with COVID-19, but we need more time for our own."
North Korea released images in April of Kim supervising a motor drill and at a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang but it is unclear when the photos were taken.
However other observers think Kim not appearing at the ceremonies on Wednesday was more to do with him wanting to distance himself from his family and underline his own legacy.
"Kim Jong Un wants to break away from the past, as well as the North's traditional cult of personality," Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean defector and researcher in Seoul, told Agence France-Presse.
"He wants to come across and brand himself as a leader who is modern and competent, rather than a descendant of his predecessors," he told the news agency. "And he wants to gradually tone down the idolization of the two late leaders as it goes against his agenda to brand the North as a 'normal state.'"
Another North Korean observer noted that the country had an "unusually low-key commemoration" for the national holiday this year.
“This could be part of North Korea’s ongoing propaganda effort to distance Kim Jong Un from the legacies of his grandfather and his father, a trend detected since the latter half of last year, the North’s handling of the party founding anniversary in October 2019 being one example,” Minyoung Lee, an expert in North Korean media and leadership, told NK News.
Foreign experts have challenged the claim that there is not one single coronavirus infection on North Korean soil.
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"It's impossible for North Korea not to have a single case of coronavirus," Jung H Pak, a former CIA analyst on North Korea, previously told Fox News.
As of Thursday morning, there were at least 2,076,015 positive cases of Covid-19 and at least 138,008 deaths worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Neighbouring South Korea has had 230 deaths, and 10,635 cases.
At the end of March, The Sun reported that more than 100 North Korean smuggling ships were anchored offshore as Kim Jong-un fears they may bring in coronavirus.
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