In late April Supreme Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Kim Jong-Un seemed to have vanished in thin air. Questions began to arise when Kim missed the most important holiday in the North Korean year, the Day of the Sun, a significant holiday that celebrates the Father of North Korea Kim Iil-Sung, the Grandfather of Kim Jong-un. The Day of the Sun is usually heralded as a time of stability and showing the strength and might of North Korea and where Kim Iil-Sung led the nation, so when Kim Jong-un was nowhere to be seen questions began to arise. 

News broke from the Daily NK, a South Korean based news organization, that the Supreme Leader was recovering after a surgery he had undergone. This was not surprising to many as Kim Jong-un has had a history of medical problems and is known to be a heavy smoker. The report also detailed that Kim was in a rural party of the country conducting normal activities. Things only seemed to go downhill from there after a report from CNN. 

CNN claimed that Kim was in serious danger and could possibly be dying. This report caused what seemed like mass speculation around the world on whether or not Kim Jong-un was dead, and if so who would replace him. What followed was day by day reports on Kim’s youngest sister and close ally Kim Yo-jong, the nation’s First Deputy Director of Propaganda. Many began to speculate on if Kim Yo-jong would be becoming the nation’s first woman leader until Kim’s eldest son came of age. Soon conspiracy theorists were coming out of the woodworks discussing that Kim Yo-jong had murdered her brother to take power, with the amount of secrecy around the nation it was hard to say if this theory was simply just a theory. 

Everything seemed to have gotten worse after China sent a medical team into North Korea signalling to the outside world that Kim was in grave danger. This was all speculation at the time, and later President Trump came out and stated that the news CNN had reported was incorrect and based off of old information. Which could be the truth on the matter. There is no news on if the surgery was caused by a quick change in the health of the Supreme Leader, and the Chinese Doctor’s were sent later to do a check-up after the operation. 

 Later news came out from South Korea that Kim was merely social distancing and had been in self quarantine. With the current state of the world and the likelihood that there are COVID-19 patients in North Korea, this new theory was widely accepted by most people, that Kim Jong-Un was fine and he was merely quarantined for his own protection. This did not stop the theories and rumors on where Kim Jong-un was. For many the quarantine has caused boredom and it is very likely that a missing leader of a nation caused a lot of intrigue among people which could have fueled any hysteria. Theories continued to spread that Kim Jong-un was hurt in a military drill or he was simply seeking attention, and currently a new theory has popped up that Kim is dead and he is using a look alike to simply keep the nation going until the Government can announce his death and the leadership of Kim Yo-jong. 

The world may never know what happened to the Supreme Leader during the final weeks of April, and this will allow speculation for years to come.