'Missing' North Korean despot Kim Jong Un is 'suffering from gout'

Kim Jong Un has not been seen in public for three weeks and now a North Korea expert has offered a possible explanation: the leader has gout. Since being filmed in July with a distinctive limp, speculation has been rife that the 31-year-old is in ill health. Even North Korea’s state media, which has tried to avoid the issue since Kim’s last public appearance on Sept. 3, has conceded the leader has been suffering from “discomfort”.

Based on his gait, it appears he has gout—something due to diet and genetic predisposition that has affected other members of the Kim family.

Michael Madden, expert on leadership in North Korea

According to Michael Madden, an expert on leadership in the secretive state, Kim’s extreme weight gain and family history reveals a lot about his condition. His father, Kim Jong Il, died in 2011 after a heart attack. Much of the speculation over Kim’s health had come from the South Korean government, who had monitored his recent absence from public life “with interest”.

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