Kim’s Back. Or is He?

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has appeared in public after a six-week absence. Speculation that Kim has been deposed or suffered a major illness seems to be off the mark – but perhaps not.

There is growing evidence that the Kim Jong Un who is being heavily promoted by the country’s state-controlled media is not the real deal. Some intelligence reports suggest that he is an imposter, installed as part of a ruse to conceal the fact that Kim no longer leads North Korea.

Here are some of the main areas of doubt.

• During a recent visit to a research center Kim asked to go to the bathroom and his entourage of generals laughed uproariously. When the leader emerged from the bathroom he cracked a joke but the generals remained straight-faced. The military officers, who have never heard a joke, seem to have missed their cue in the script, and laughed at the wrong time.
• Minutes into the same visit Kim appeared to be bored, turned to one of the attending generals, and delivered a fatal blow to the man’s solar plexus with his cane. The real Kim would never do this; he always killed his staff with chop sticks.
• The fact that Kim now carries a cane is a giveaway. This is a classic ploy to distract attention from features such as an uncharacteristic gait that might betray an imposter. Look closely and one can see that this man has a wooden leg.
• An analysis of the latest photos of Kim has revealed a garment label under his gray coat. The label is from a Justin Bieber T-shirt. The real Kim would never wear such a shirt. He was strictly a Kate Perry man.
• Perhaps the most damning clue of all is a rash of sightings in Cleveland, OH, of Kim Jong Un sitting alongside Elvis Presley at a Kate Perry concert.

Has the North Korean leader done a deal with the US government to defect to the west?

Watch this space.