Since taking control of North Korea nearly three years ago, Kim Jong Un has embraced the public arena with an enthusiasm never seen from his father, the dour Kim Jong Il. From long speeches to a rollercoaster ride and a seemingly endless series of “guidance” visits, he has used state media to convey an aura of youthful vitality.
Mr Kim’s absence from the public eye for more than a month has cast doubt on that image, with analysts and South Korean media speculating about the health problems that may have caused this retreat, unprecedented in its duration since Mr Kim took power.
The young leader was conspicuously overweight even before taking power – “much fatter than either his father or grandfather had been in their 20s”, writes the North Korea analyst Brian Myers. Over the past year, however, his weight has ballooned visibly, while frequent photographs of him smoking suggest a heavy tobacco habit.