U.S. Naval War College Expert on Latest Reports on North Korea’s Kim Jong Un
GoLocalProv News Team
U.S. Naval War College Expert on Latest Reports on North Korea’s Kim Jong Un
On Tuesday, Roehrig addressed the CNN report that Jong Un's health was in significant jeopardy following a medical procedure.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“I think it is premature to put too much stock in that report. There are wide-ranging reports from various sources,” said Roehrig on Tuesday.
“This has happened before — we have had major rumors about North Korean leadership and it as proven to be exaggerated or not to have happened at all. I think we need to wait and see over the next couple of days what the reports are confirming or denying,” he added.
On Friday, Reuters reported that China sent a team — including medical experts — to advise on Jong Un.
“The trip by the Chinese doctors and officials comes amid conflicting reports about the health of the North Korean leader. Reuters was unable to immediately determine what the trip by the Chinese team signaled in terms of Kim’s health,” reported Reuters.
“He is not the paragon of good health — he is overweight, he is believed to possibly have diabetes, he’s a smoker, his family has a history of heart disease, so a rumor around his health is certainly not implausible but nonetheless we have to be careful about jumping to conclusions,” said Roehrig.
“The short answer is there is no succession plan that we can tell — that is not atypical in authoritarian regimes because they tend not to have those kind of arrangements too far ahead of time,” he said.