Is Kim Jong-un sick, very sick or just off colour?

Kim Jong-un can't have coronavirus because according to North Korea Covid-19 has not entered the country. The North Korean leader hasn't been seen since April 11 and for a man who never misses a trick about appearing in public especially for big events, it certainly seems odd that he has vanished from view. He missed his late gradfather's birthday celebrations and that's something he would never do unless he was seriously incapacitated. North Korea is like the Soviet Union in the bad old days. They say Leonid Brezhnev had been dead for weeks before Moscow finally announced his passing. Konstantin Chernenko looked pretty dead from the moment he took over as Soviet supremo and may well have departed well before his official death was declared. Suspending death announcements allowed for furious backroom Kremlin battles to get sorted. Now it may be that Chairman Kim has had a heart attack from all that fancy eating or a serious stomach disorder and just doesn't feel that good and doesn't want to be seen in public looking peaky. The trouble with being a total dictator type in a nation like North Korea is that when you are not around suddenly the whole world, well those who are really interested, like the US, South Korea, Japan and China, start worrying. If he has died, let's say, who the hell is going to take over and will he or she be any different or worse than Kim? Now Senator Lindsey Graham, the sort of chap who knows a lot about what is going on in the world and has chats with all sorts of people who know a lot too has appeared on Foxd News and calmly stated that he'd be shocked if Chairman Kim wasn't either dead or incapacitated. Now for a man of influence like Senator Graham who is generally pretty pally with Trump who gets his daily intelligence brief, is he trying to tell us what the CIA and others in the spooky world have been telling Trump or is he just speculating? You never know with Senator Graham. He's wily sort of bloke. It did seem rather an extraordinary remark, hinting that he knows more than he is saying. But, seriously, if there was intelligence that the North Korean leader had actually died, surely the South Korean intelligence service would be leaping around and warning the Seoul government to be on the alert for a massive crisis across the border. There is no indication of that. What's more, a team of Chinese - of course - doctors has flown to Pyongyang to minister unto poor young Chairman Kim. I doubt, with the greatest of respect, that the CIA has an inside agent at the top of the North Korean regime who even now is standing at the end of Kim's bed, reading his medical notes. So whatever Graham says, it really is all speculation. Will Presidet Xi Zinping ring up Trump and bring him up to date? I doubt it especially with all the row over blaming Beijing for the coronavirus pandemic. So we all have to wait and see. I wouldnt be surprised if Chairman Kim turns up all sprightly and smug at some ballistic-missile test firing and gives the world a North Korean V sign.