Daily NK
Yang Jung A
6/21/2007
Kim Jong Il underwent a Percuteneous Transarterial Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA) performed by German doctors in mid-May.
An inside Japanese source well acquainted with North Korea reported by telephone on the 20th that Kim Jong Il received medical treatment from doctors of the Berlin Heart Center in mid-May and was back at work a day later.
This source said that North Korean authority asked the German doctors to closely examine Kim Jong Il’s health and perform surgery if necessary. The examination revealed a myocardial infarction, but no other serious heart condition.
According to the doctors, Kim’s health was not bad except for kidney hypertrophy and some symptoms of diabetes. After examination he received the relatively simple PTCA treatment instead of surgery.
PTCA expands a narrow artery by inflating a tiny balloon. The balloon is introduced into the artery through catheter. It is an effective treatment for coronary artery diseases without the use of thoracotomy, and results in high success rates and few complications. Patients need just a couple of days’ rest. Dr. Jung Yong Suk, a heart specialist at the Sunrin Hospital in Handong University, explained to the Daily NK that “PTCA is a medical treatment for coronary arteries supplying blood into the heart. If Kim Jong Il required the procedure, he may have some problem in his coronary arteries, but it is uncertain if it is a stricture of the heart or myocardial infarction.”
The Japanese source said that the “German doctors promised to keep Kim Jong Il’s procedure a secret and to coordinate a faked story with North Korea authority.” Therefore, the spokesperson of Berlin Heat Center revealed that 6 members of the center stayed in Pyongyang from May 11th to the 19th, treating only three laborers, a nurse, and a scientist.
A North Korea expert speculated that Kim Jong Il might be addressing health concerns prior to the year end South Korean Presidential Election and further nuclear negotiations. Many groundless reports have circulated regarding possible Kim Jong Il heart surgery. A Japanese magazine, Shukan Gendai, claimed that Kim Jong Il received coronary artery bypass surgery for myocardial infarction.
Original claim:
Kim Jong-il had artery surgery in May
Korea Herald
6/14/2007
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was operated on by a team of German doctors last month to open a blocked artery, a person connected to the Kim regime said.
While doctors from German Heart Institute Berlin arrived in Pyongyang prepared to perform major surgery on Kim, they found only one clogged artery, the person said. The 65-year-old Kim, who suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure, recovered well from the surgery, said the person, who asked that his name not be used because North Korea wanted the operation kept secret.
The person said while other members of North Korea’s elite go abroad for medical treatment, only Kim is important enough to have a team brought into the country. Barbara Nickolaus, a spokeswoman for the institute in Berlin, confirmed that the doctors had been in Pyongyang, and said they were there to treat three workers, a nurse and a scientist.
Kim’s health has been the subject of repeated recent speculation. Chosun Ilbo, South Korea’s biggest daily newspaper, said late last month that South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies were checking reports Kim was suffering from heart, kidney or liver disease.
The Japanese weekly magazine Shukan Gendai said on June 8 a team of six doctors from Berlin was in Pyongyang from May 11 to 19 and conducted heart-bypass surgery on Kim.
The North’s official Korea Central News Agency said Kim visited factories in North Pyeongan Province near the border with China and spoke with workers on June 7, or less than three weeks after the German doctors left North Korea.
NK Daily, a Seoul online news organization staffed by defectors from North Korea, reported on June 11 it had confirmed the report with an “inside source” in North Korea who said the apparently vigorous Kim’s June 7 schedule lasted until 1 a.m.
Since the 1970s, when he was unofficially designated as successor to his father, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong-il’s health has been the subject of speculation.
“Kim does have diabetes and high blood pressure,” said C. Kenneth Quinones, a retired U.S. State Department Korea specialist who teaches at Japan’s Akita International University. “But there is no firm evidence that either has worsened recently.”
Kim, who has three sons in their 20s and 30s, hasn’t publicly said whether one of them or someone else will be his successor in the world’s only communist dynasty.
U.S. Concern
“The State Department is concerned about his health, at least until he publicly designates an heir,” Quinones said.
Kim’s failure to keep to his usual quota of appearances, such as visits to work units to deliver what the official Korea Central News Agency calls “on-the-spot guidance,” often triggers speculation.
Given North Korea’s nuclear program, all reports about Kim’s health have to be taken seriously, said Michael Breen, author of “Kim Jong-il: North Korea’s Dear Leader,” a biography.
“One day the reports will be true,” Breen said. “So we can never ignore them.”
Chosun Ilbo reported in May that Kim had been on official activities 23 times between Jan. 1 and May 27, half the number reported during the same period in 2006.
At an April 25 military parade, Kim’s eyeglass lenses were different from his usual sunglasses, leading to speculation his diabetes had worsened, making his eyes more sensitive to sunlight, the newspaper said. That was a “false alarm,” Quinones said. He said Kim was actually wearing “transition” lenses that turn darker according to the sun’s brightness.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service concluded Kim’s health probably wasn’t in serious decline, according to a person who spoke with service agents.
At the April parade in Pyongyang, South Korean agents watched Kim review troops for two hours with no signs of fatigue, a sign his health isn’t fragile, said the person, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the information.
Chain-Smoker
Kim is a former chain-smoker whose lifestyle — including a reported fondness for cognac and delicacies — may contribute to his diabetes and high blood pressure. His father died, reportedly of cardiovascular disease, at 82 in 1994.
Questions about the younger Kim’s health were heightened during a long disappearance in the late 1970s, prompting speculation he was dead or seriously incapacitated from injuries in a car accident caused by people opposed to a hereditary succession.
After his formal elevation to succeed his father in 1980, the official media portrayed him as a tireless worker for the people’s welfare even at the risk of his own health.
Kim looked pale and thin at the ceremony designating him as successor, causing North Koreans to write critical letters to officials for failing to take care of his health, official media reported at the time.
Kenji Fujimoto, a Japanese chef who served Kim at his Pyongyang palace, said in a pseudonymous book he wrote about the experience that the North Korean leader would complain about the medicine he had to take.
In the book, “The Private Life of Kim Jong-il,” Fujimoto quoted Kim as saying, “Do I have to keep taking these pills every day until I die?” (Bloomberg)
