Kim Jong Un Packing on Pounds Amid Binging, Anxiety

Spies say he is also suffering from insomnia, not exactly a picture of health
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 4, 2016 8:41 AM CDT
Kim Jong Un Packing on Pounds Amid Binging, Anxiety
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.   (NKO via AP Photo)

Combining a toxic cocktail of binge eating and drinking with rampant insomnia and paranoia, Kim Jong Un has gained a whopping 90 pounds since taking over as the leader of North Korea four years ago, according to South Korea's spy agency. The big problem: Kim apparently is deeply fearful of being assassinated, RT reports. South Korean lawmaker Lee Cheol-Woo tells journalists that the 33-year-old Kim "keeps a close tab on any potential threats to his power, including the military, and he is obsessed with ensuring his personal safety," and is "likely to develop adult diseases." Both Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, and grandfather, Kim Il Sung, were overweight smokers, and died of heart attacks.

The leader's weight first ballooned from 200 pounds four years ago to 265 in 2014, and this year he is clocking in at close to 290 pounds, reports the Guardian. North Korean authorities have acknowledged that he's in an "uncomfortable physical condition." For one thing, he's been spotted using a cane. He was also caught smoking a cigarette while visiting a children's camp in Pyongyang amid a national anti-smoking drive after having avoided being photographed with one since March. His father, who quit smoking a decade before his death, once called smokers one of the "three main fools of the 20th century," in addition to those who are music and computer illiterate. (Kim's aunt works as a dry cleaner—in the US.)

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