A viral video of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un's supposed funeral has been circulating on Facebook and it is definitely a hoax! The timely release of the video coincided with the circulating rumors of Kim Jong Un's "death" which is still unconfirmed.
The video is very real but it is not what it was used for and it was certainly not a live video but rather a previous recording of the supreme leader's father Kim Jong Il's funeral ceremony.
How did the rumors start?
North Korea has previously claimed that it has zero cases of coronavirus but back on April 15, an important holiday that celebrated the birth anniversary of the founder of the country, his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, was missed by the supreme leader himself and according to South Korea's own minister for North Korean affairs, this could have been because of concerns over the ongoing pandemic.
The absence of the supreme leader during this holiday led to certain speculations surrounding his health. Although the country still claims zero infections, but the mere fact that the country has started taking steps to head off this outbreak, Kim's absence from all of the important ceremonies is quite unusual according to the Unification Minister, Kim Yeon-chul, told lawmakers.
Kim Yeon-chul also suggested that the lack of celebrations and a banquet was due to coronavirus concerns. It was also said that there at least two instances ever since mid-January where North Korea's leader was nowhere to be found for 20 days.
The neighboring thoughts regarding North Korea's leader
Shinzo Abe, the Japanese Prime Minister, has said that he was well aware of the supreme leader's health and was actually paying close attention to North Korea's movements. The country had to cancel a large group of events and even imposed a border lockdown as well as quarantine measures to stop the pandemic.
According to Chad O'Caroll, the CEO of Korea Risk Group which actually monitors North Korea's movements, the fact that Kim Jong Un is hiding "puncture a hole in the state media narrative of how this crisis has been perfectly managed."
O'Caroll then says that if the supreme leader merely wanted to avoid getting infected, it would have been much easier for him to release a photo or video of a healthy-looking Kim.
Are there any signs of life?
A certain authoritative source that is pretty familiar with the United States intelligence reporting previously said that it was actually entirely possible that the dictator had disappeared from the public in order to avoid exposure to the pandemic.
There was also a sighting of his very own presidential train along the coastal resort area of a place called Wonsan that could suggest that he might have been residing there recently.
The source also said that there is still no authoritative backing for these type of conclusions and that the United States agencies were also entertaining the possibility that Kim Jong Un could in fact be ill, even seriously.
