Did Kim Jong Un Use A Body Double?

The life of North Korea supreme leader Kim Jong Un continues to be under media scrutiny. In the last month, news reports were abuzz with speculations on his extremely poor health. While some unconfirmed reports said that the dictator gad died, others reported he was in a vegetative state. Some South Korean media houses claimed that Kim won’t survive his heart surgery.

Even as rumour mills were running and unconfirmed reports were making headlines, North Korea kept mum. The country directly released pictures of the leader at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in response to speculations. Kim made his first public appearance at the inauguration of a fertiliser plant where he looked in a jovial mood.

However, soon after the photographs were published, several theories emerged that claimed that Kim Jong Un was using a body double at the May 1 ceremony. This theory was picked up by the British publication Daily Mail. 

Several photographs of the 36-year-old leader started doing the rounds on the internet to describe how his facial features looked different.

The most notable difference highlighted in those photographs is in his dentition. The teeth looked doctored, the Daily Mail report claimed.

Lending credence to the theory is former Tory MP Louise Mensch.

“No it isn’t. Teeth, Cupid’s bow, others. Totally different. Look at those gnashes, if you must,” she said in her tweet posted on May 2.

Meanwhile, South Korean lawmakers briefed by a spy agency said on Wednesday that there are no signs North Korean leader Kim Jong Un received heart surgery when he disappeared from state media for three weeks. He reduced public activity due to coronavirus concerns, they said.

“Kim Jong Un had focused on consolidating internal affairs such as military forces and party-state meetings, and coronavirus concerns have further limited his public activity,” a member of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service Kim Byung-kee said.