Agency claims to solve mystery of Kim Jong Un

South Korea’s spy agency said yesterday it has solved the mystery of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s six-week public absence, which set off a frenzy of speculation around the world.

The National Intelligence Service told legislators that a foreign doctor operated on Kim in September or October to remove a cyst from his right ankle, according to Park Byeong-seok, an aide for opposition lawmaker Shin Kyung-min. The aide said the spy agency also told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that the cyst could recur because of Kim’s obesity, smoking, and heavy public schedule.

After last being seen in state media on September 3, Kim reappeared on October 14 hobbling with a cane, but smiling and looking thinner. The speculation during his absence was particularly intense because of the Kim family’s importance to impoverished, nuclear- armed North Korea. The family has ruled the country since its founding in 1948.

It was not immediately clear how the information was obtained by the spy agency, which has a spotty track record of analysing developments in opaque North Korea.

The agency also said North Korea has expanded five of its political prisoner camps, including the Yodok camp, which was relocated to the north-west city of Kilchu, according to Lim Dae-seong, an aide to ruling party lawmaker Lee Cheol- woo, who also attended the briefing. The spy agency believes the camps hold about 100,000 prisoners, Lim said.

He said the agency also believes that North Korea recently used a firing squad to execute several people who had been close to Kim Jong Un’s uncle, Jang Song Thaek, who was considered the No 2 power before his sudden purge and execution in December 2013.