Kim Jong-un Coma Rumors

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Overview

Kim Jong-un Coma Rumors refers to a rumor which spread in late August of 2020 that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had been in a coma for months after his health scare in April earlier that year. The rumor started after Chang Song-min, a former aide to ex-South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, said on social media, "I assess him to be in a coma, but his life has not ended." Chang also alleged that Kim's sister, Kim Yo-jung had been running the country since Kim's health scare, and that evidence that Kim was healthy had been faked by state media.

Background

On August 20th, 2020, South Korean intelligence reported that Kim Jong-un would be delegating some power to aides as a way to relieve stress on the North Korean leader.^[6] The news is unconfirmed. On August 21st, 2020, The Korea Herald^[1] reported that Chang Song-min, a former aide to ex-South Korean president Kim Dae-jung had said on Facebook^[7] that the change indicated that he was unwell. He said no North Korean leader would delegate responsibilities to aides^[4] unless they were physically unwell or there had been a coup. "I assess him to be in a coma, but his life has not ended," said Chang.

Developments

The story was picked up by national publications such as The Sun^[2] and the New York Post.^[3] The Sun reported that Kim Yo-jung was attempting to broaden her power by gathering support in the South of the country. NK News^[5] deemed the rumor that Kim Jong-un was in a coma to be "most likely false." The publication pointed to 16 instances in which Kim was seen in public since his rumored health scare in April, including photographed and filmed appearances. For the appearances to be faked, the publication concluded that the government would have to be using a perfect body double.

On Twitter, most people did not believe the rumors that Kim Jong-un was in a coma. Jokes about the rumors included videos of characters appearing to rise from the dead, completely fine. For example, user @thouartvandelay posted a video of NBA player Lance Stephenson getting up from an apparent injury as though he were fine, gaining over 7,400 retweets and 33,000 likes (shown below, top). User @ninetailsdemon posted a clip from "Crunk Ain't Dead", gaining over 5,200 retweets and 33,000 likes (shown below, bottom).