The health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has long been a source of morbid fascination in rival South Korea, which sits in the shadow of Kim's 1.2-million-strong army and his growing arsenal of nuclear-armed missiles. Kim's health matters in Seoul, Washington, Tokyo and other world capitals because he hasn't publicly anointed a successor who would control an advancing nuclear program targeting the United States and its allies if he is incapacitated. This article delves into the details of Kim Jong Un's health, weight fluctuations, dietary habits, and their implications.
Weight Fluctuations and Speculation
In recent state media images, including those published on Wednesday, Kim appeared to have lost a large amount of weight. The strap on his fancy watch is tighter, and his face thinner. Some observers say Kim-who is about 170 centimeters (5 feet, 8 inches) tall and has previously weighed 140 kilograms (308 pounds)-may have lost about 10-20 kilograms (22-44 pounds). This has led to fresh speculation in the South about his health again. Has he gained even more weight? Is he struggling for breath after relatively short walks? What about that cane? Why did he miss that important state anniversary?
Kim's apparent weight loss is more likely an attempt to improve his health, rather than a sign of illness, according to Hong Min, a senior analyst at Seoul's Korea Institute for National Unification. "If he was experiencing health problems, he wouldn't have come out in public to convene the plenary meeting of the Workers' Party's Central Committee," a major political conference this week that is expected to last two to three days, Hong said.
Family History and Health Concerns
Kim, known for heavy drinking and smoking, comes from a family with a history of heart problems. His father and grandfather, who ruled North Korea before him, both died of heart issues. Experts have said his weight could increase the possibility of cardiovascular diseases.
Regime Transparency and Succession
North Korea, never open about the internal workings of its leadership, has over the last year shut itself up even tighter to protect against the coronavirus pandemic. When global speculation flared about Kim's health last year after he missed the commemoration of the birthday of his late grandfather, some analysts speculated Kim's younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, was next in line to inherit her brother's power.
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Seo Yu-Seok at the Seoul-based Institute of North Korean Studies said the North's recent creation of a first secretary of the ruling Workers' Party, the country's No. 2 job, might have been related to Kim's possible health issues. He said Kim may have allowed the post's establishment at the urging of top officials but still hasn't named anyone to the job because it could loosen his grip on power. "If Kim faces a real health problem and is in a condition in which he can't express his opinions, though he isn't dead, who will make a decision to name the first secretary?" Seo said.
Lavish Lifestyle and Dietary Habits
Considering the hardships to which the people of North Korea are routinely subjected, looking into Kim's eating habits feels a little unproductive. The truth is, however, this man's diet represents one of the most clear-cut demonstrations of his regime's hypocrisy. As of 2019, more than 10 million North Koreans were suffering severe food shortages.
One running theme in Kim's eating habits is that if he likes something, he gorges on it to an almost inhuman degree. Take Emmental cheese, for example. Kim likes Emmental cheese, the taste for which he likely picked up during his school days in Switzerland. The DPRK has even been known to send representatives across the world in order to better serve the state's cheese-producing infrastructure. In 2014, Pyongyang officials visited a French dairy college in an attempt to secure more fine cheeses for their country (and their leader).
Sushi
Sushi has been a crucial part of upper-echelon North Korean life since long before Kim came to power. Kenji Fujimoto was Kim Jong-Il's long-serving personal sushi chef, and says he was Kim Jong-Un's friend and playmate during their childhood and teen years. Fujimoto had arrived in the DPRK in 1982 on a one-year contract to teach sushi-making to Pyongyang chefs and soon agreed to stay on for longer, quickly becoming a close confidant to Kim Jong-Il, often securing fine delicacies for the leader.
When Kim Jong-Un took the DPRK's reigns in 2012, however, Fujimoto was invited back - which would imply some kind of genuine good will towards his father's former sushi chef on the part of the North Korean leader. Either that, or he really liked his sushi. In a 2013 interview with GQ, he announced his intentions to return to North Korea for good, and in 2017 he opened a sushi restaurant in Pyongyang.
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Recalling his 2012 visit to the country, Fujimoto explained that he had taken part in a boozy, extravagant banquet, at which Kim Jong-Un was present, which gave some insight into the kinds of delicacies Kim prefers. "I was so drunk when I visited North Korea in 2012," he explained, "and when I woke up, I was in my bed, so I don't remember what was on the table well.
Kobe Steak
The chef revealed he had also eaten Kobe steak during the banquet, one of the priciest types of beef on the planet. To qualify as Kobe, the beef must meet a strenuous list of different criteria, based on location, quality of meat, and weight restrictions.
Coffee
It's not just high-quality food that Kim enjoys gorging on. Brazil is generally regarded as being home to some of the finest coffee in the world. Today, the country is the single largest exporter of coffee, with most of its stock shipping to Germany, the United States, Italy, Japan, and Belgium. It's not known exactly which brand of coffee Kim likes to import, but some of Brazil's more expensive coffees (such as Fazenda Santa Ines) tend to run up to $50 per pound. Other brands can cost as much as $500 per pound.
Alcohol Consumption
Kim Jong-Un is no stranger to a drink or two. In fact, he regularly imports more alcohol for his own personal use than most people will ever drink in their lives.
Vodka
A ship belonging to a Chinese company called Cosco Shipping was halted in Rotterdam on a tip from the Russian foreign ministry, and customs agents quickly discovered some 3,000 cases of vodka inside. The United Nations have previously banned the export of luxury goods to the DPRK, but over the previous two years, the country had attempted to dodge international sanctions. Previously, officials have seized champagnes, cheeses (obviously), and televisions. Allegedly, the vodka was supposed to be enjoyed by Kim and his military commanders.
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Champagne
More drinks, here - because what is a tyrannical dictator without his Champagne? Not just the bubbly of choice for French connoisseurs, movie stars, and yacht enthusiasts, Champagne is also a favorite amongst planet Earth's worst despots. Produced by the Louis Roederer estate, Cristal was created in 1876 at the behest of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Described by Roederer as "a remarkably balanced and refined champagne whose length is inimitable," Cristal is known for its "silky texture" and "fruity aromas." Perhaps more importantly, however, it is also ludicrously expensive: Bottles regularly sell for well over $100, with some larger formats going for upwards of $11,000. For what it's worth, by consuming two bottles of the stuff in a single sitting, Kim would have been adding over 1,100 calories to his daily intake.
Cognac
Yes, even more booze. Under Kim Jong-Il, North Korea allegedly spent around $1 million every year on Hennessy, a brand of French cognac which costs about $630 per bottle in the DPRK - more than most North Koreans make in a year. Hennessy is one of the world's finest and largest cognac producers. Established in 1765, the estate's product has been enjoyed by such historical figures as George IV and Tsar Alexander I, and has been drunk all across the world - from France to China to the Arctic Circle and, of course, North Korea. Exactly how much Hennessy Kim consumes on a daily basis is unclear, but the amount the country spends on importing it would imply they bring in thousands of bottles every year.
Wine
After taking such strenuous efforts to prove his taste for luxury with Russian vodka, Cristal champagne, and Hennessy cognac, it seems only natural that Kim would round it all off with the world's finest wines. According to Kenji Fujimoto, Kim has a particular penchant for French wine and once boasted about drinking 10 bottles of Bordeaux in a single night. Considering "Bordeaux" could mean hundreds (even thousands, maybe) of different wines, it's hard to gauge how much money this would cost. A bottle of Bordeaux could easily sell for no more than a few dollars. Equally, however, it could also fetch thousands of dollars; it just depends on which wine estate produced it, and when. As for the 10 bottle claim? A bottle of red wine tends to contain around five glasses, meaning, on that fateful night, Kim would have drunk around 50 standard-sized drinks. And drinking only five glasses every week can knock years off your life.
Kim does include one more type of wine in his cellar, albeit one with a far more specific purpose than the others. According to a 2014 report by UK tabloid Metro, Kim regularly drinks snake wine - a popular drink that comes with the body of a dead cobra in the bottle, which is thought by some to increase the virility of the drinker. "The elite in the country," said a South Korean expat, "joke that he is too big to please his wife and that's why they do not have any other children. Snake wine is popular all across South China and Southeast Asia. Its makers usually put one large snake inside each bottle, and throw in a number of different roots, berries, and herbs for flavor or medicinal effect.
Banquets and Haute Cuisine
Being a state leader, Kim often finds himself attending lavish dinners, banquets, and other occasions which hold considerable heft on the international stage. Unsurprisingly, the menus at such events tend to be chock-full of haute cuisine and gourmet dishes.
Take Kim's Hanoi summit with Donald Trump in February 2019, for example. On that particular occasion, the menu actually became subjected to something of a rewrite. In the end, Kim was served shrimp cocktail with Thousand Island dressing, grilled sirloin with pear kimchi, and chocolate lava with fresh berries and vanilla ice cream for dessert. The exact reason for the change in menu wasn't given, but it's likely no coincidence that those foods are the exact type of thing you tend to find on the menu at Trump's own hotels and restaurants. Was it a power play or pickiness on Trump's part?
In 2019, the executive chef at Hanoi's Metropole Hotel - where the Trump/Kim summit was held - revealed some new details as to the North Korean leader's eating habits. Smart described the North Korean staff who worked alongside his team as "mysterious but very professional," and noticed that they tasted dishes an hour before serving to check the food was safe. Another detail that Smart picked up on was Kim's preference for a medium-rare to very rare steak (Trump, famously, prefers his meat well-done).
Kim attended another dinner in 2018, this time with Republic of Korea president Moon Jae-in - set amongst the backdrop of the Korean demilitarized zone. In the Peace House that stands in the DMZ's so-called "truce village" of Panmunjom, Kim and Moon dined on a number of extravagant, expertly-made dishes.
Political Context and Leadership
From late 2010, Kim was viewed as the successor to the North Korean leadership. Following his father's death in December 2011, state television announced Kim as the "great successor to the revolutionary cause". He assumed various leadership posts and also became a member of the Presidium of the WPK Politburo, the highest decision-making body in the country.
Kim Jong Un rules North Korea as a totalitarian dictatorship, and his leadership has followed the same cult of personality as his father and grandfather. North Korean state media often refer to him as "Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un" or "Marshal Kim Jong Un".
Kim's regime has been accused of human rights violations. According to reports, he has ordered the purge and execution of several North Korean officials including his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, in 2013. He is also widely believed to have ordered the assassination of his half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, in Malaysia in 2017.
Kim has promoted the policy of byungjin, similar to Kim Il Sung's policy from the 1960s, referring to the simultaneous development of both the economy and the country's nuclear weapons program. He has also revived the structures of the WPK, expanding the party's power at the expense of the military leadership.
Kim expanded the country's nuclear weapons program, which led to heightened tensions with the United States and North Korea, as well as China. president Donald Trump, leading to a brief thaw between North Korea and the two countries, though the negotiations ultimately broke down without progress on reunification of Korea or nuclear disarmament. He has claimed success in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, as the country did not report any confirmed cases until May 2022, although several independent observers have questioned this claim. In 2024, Kim declared that North Korea formally abandoned efforts to reunify Korea.
Early Life and Education
Later, it was reported that Kim Jong Un attended the Liebefeld Steinhölzli state school in Köniz, near Bern, under the name "Pak-un" or "Un-pak" from 1998 until 2000 as the son of an employee of the North Korean embassy in Bern. Authorities confirmed that a North Korean student attended the school during that period. Kim first attended a special class for foreign-language children and later attended the regular classes of the 6th, 7th, 8th and part of the final 9th year, leaving the school abruptly in the autumn of 2000. He was described as a well-integrated and ambitious student who liked to play basketball. However, his grades and attendance rating are reported to have been poor. The ambassador of North Korea in Switzerland, Ri Chol, had a close relationship with him and acted as a mentor. One of Kim's classmates told reporters that he had told him that he was the son of the leader of North Korea. According to some reports, Kim was described by classmates as a shy child who was awkward with girls and indifferent to political issues, but who distinguished himself in sports and had a fascination with the American National Basketball Association and Michael Jordan.
Public Image and Personality
In January 2022, a North Korean KCTV documentary, "2021, A Great Victorious Year", was released, which appeared to address Kim's sudden weight loss and infrequent public appearances. According to Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute, Kim Jong Un has greater visible interest in the welfare of his people and engages in greater interaction with them than his father did. South Koreans who saw Kim at the summit in April 2018 described him as straightforward, humorous, and attentive. After meeting him, Donald Trump said, "I learned he was a talented man.
Health Concerns and Monitoring
SEOUL, South Korea - Kim Jong Un is more obese than ever, and his deputies are looking for foreign medicines to treat him for high blood pressure and diabetes, South Korean officials said Tuesday.“He could have been suffering from medical conditions that are difficult to deal with the currently available medicine,” South Korean lawmakers Lee Seong-Kwuen and Park Sunwon said at a joint briefing, quoting Seoul’s spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, or NIS.Kim, 40, weighs about 308 pounds, they said, adding that the agency believes it is his heaviest ever. and its treaty ally South Korea. He has also been bolstering his personality cult, trying to cement his status as the ruler of the regime and win public support amid economic woes.