Kim Jong Un is not the first North Korean Leader who Suddenly 'Disappeared': A glimpse at the Past!

The disappearance of Kim Jong-Un has sparked a lot of speculations and conjectures that he is severely ill. However, he is not the first North Korean leader or member of the ruling elite to disappear from public. 

North Korean officials have remained away from the public eye in the past. Some of them were absent due to illness or even deaths. 

Here is a look at instances when North Korean officials disappeared in the past:

KIM IL SUNG

Kim IL Sung was one of the most hated and feared personalities in North Korea. He is even known to be more feared than KIM II Sung, the state founder. He was known for the surprise attack he launched against the South. It left a devastating impact on the country. In another such attempt, he dispatched troops to assassinate the south Korean president in 1968 and sent agents to plant bombs to kill South Korean cabinet ministers. 

South Korean newspapers reported him as dead in November 1986. The  Chosun Ilbo, a popular South Korean newspaper started publishing rumors that Kim II Sung had died. One of the South Korean officials used loud speakers to declare that he was shot dead. Other news organizations soon started following the trend and published stories that the leader was dead. 

However, this frenzy came to an end when the leader made a shocking appearance at an airport in North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang to visit a Mongolian delegation.

 

KIM JONG IL

Kim Jong Il, the second leader of North Korea and Kim Jong-Un's father preferred being reclusive and secluded. A lot of speculations and reports about his demise was released during his reign. 

The first rumor came out in 2004 when a massive explosion happened at a north Korean train station. The rumors claimed that there was an attempt to assassinate the leader. Once again in 2008 when he suffered strokes repeatedly, the rumors spread so much that South Korea had to investigate and find the truth behind the veracity of the claims. 

When the leader died in 2011 after facing health issues for years, no one knew about his death until North Korea’s state media announced two days later. 

Few speculations back in 2015 even claimed that Kim Jong- Un poisoned Kim Kyong Hui (Kim Jong II’s sister) to death. She made a public appearance in January 2020 almost after six years. 

 

KIM JONG-UN

Kim Jong- Un is infamously known for vanishing from the public eye. In 2014, he disappeared for almost six weeks and came back into the limelight with a cane (after undergoing surgery as per claims made by a South Korean Spy).

In 2016, intelligence reports claimed that he had a former military chief executed but the same official (Ri Yong Gil) was cited by the state media a few months after the conjectures sparked. He was even promoted to senior positions.