TOKYO — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un might have disappeared from the public eye, but his diplomatic representatives sure haven’t.
There’s Ri Su Yong, who has been everywhere from Burma and Indonesia to Ethiopia and Iran since he became foreign minister in April. Last month, he addressed the United Nations, the first North Korean to do so in 15 years. On Friday, he wrapped up 10 days in Russia.
There’s Kang Sok Ju, the international affairs secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party, in Belgium, Switzerland, Germany and Italy. Oh yes, and he met the Mongolian president in Beijing on his way home.
And then there are the top officials — including the No. 2 and No. 3 behind Kim — who showed up in South Korea last weekend, meeting with the prime minister and unification minister and promising to talk again soon.
Kim himself hasn’t been seen in five weeks. On Friday, he failed to show up for the 69th anniversary of the founding of the Korean Workers’ Party, fueling speculation that he’s more than sick. His absence, coupled with surprisingly frank official reports that he is suffering from “discomfort,” have sparked rumors of maladies ranging from obesity to overthrow.
As with most things concerning North Korea, the truth remains far from clear. But the state-run Korean Central News Agency notably left Kim’s name off a list of dignitaries who paid their respects Friday to his father and grandfather, Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung, at the mausoleum where their bodies lie.
The news agency reported only that a basket of flowers bearing the current leader’s name was placed before statues of the first two Kims in the world’s only communist dynasty. It was the first time since he succeeded his father almost three years ago that Kim Jong Un had missed the event.
Still, North Korea is embarking on the most intensive outreach since Kim took over, and most analysts agree that such frenzied activity abroad would be unlikely if there were real turmoil at home.
“This is the most active period of foreign diplomatic activity that we’ve seen out of Kim Jong Un for sure,” said Scott Snyder, a Korea expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. “They’re really reaching out, and the question is why. What’s motivating them? I don’t think anybody knows for sure.”
