Kim Jong Un’s Health, Death Speculations Terrifies China; US Has ‘Contingency Plans’ Already In Place

Uncertainty about Kim Jong Un’s health status is troubling President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping. The speculations about North Korea’s dictator’s health status have further intensified after failed attempts by several countries to fetch reliable information about his whereabouts.

Kim was last seen publicly attending a government meeting on April 11. He missed attending the National Parade observing the birth anniversary of his grandfather on April 15, which gave birth to a wave of speculations about his health.

Some claim that Kim Jong Un has coronavirus infection, which he contracted from the Chinese doctor who flew to North Korea to perform cardiovascular surgery on the Supreme Leader. Others even took to Twitter to declare that he has been declared brain dead as he slipped into a coma after the cardiac surgery that took place on April 12.

While South Korean officials have said that they have not observed any “unusual activity” in North Korea but are trying to get more information, the sudden disappearance from the public eye is certainly a cause of concern for China.

While the intelligence agencies, journalists as well as researchers are trying to fetch more information from a reliable source, it is clear that Kim Jong Un’s sudden death could destabilize the Asian subcontinent.

North Korea is a highly militarized country and with no clarity on succession in the event of Kim Jong Un’s death, the country could become unstable and there may be chaos right there in the Chinese border with American as well as South Korean troops making advances into the border.

With so much going on in China already, this is the last thing that Xi Jinping would like to experience at the moment. China’s economy has been severely hit ever since the coronavirus emerged and spread from Wuhan and further chaos right on its border will be a massive setback.

Meanwhile, the U.S. defense intelligence says that the country has an “extensive contingency plan” in place in the event of Kim Jong Un’s death to resolve and take care of all the complications that may arise under such a situation.

The officials further said that there is a likelihood of a huge humanitarian crisis within North Korea. This may lead to a huge instability, leaving thousands of people without food and mass exodus of refugees into China.

It is further expected that the U.S. may seek assistance from China to manage the situation within North Korea because of the former’s close proximity and other logistic challenges that the U.S. may face in providing humanitarian assistance.