More on the Kim walking around in Wonsan story

This is just more confirmation on the Kim in Wonsan story broken by DongA media on April 23, which the blog commented on at that time. This report is basically being ignored in US, Japanese, and other so called mainstream media. The avalanche of English language reports started with the Daily NK report that Kim had had cardiovascular surgery and was in serious condition. A media and internet frenzy if not propaganda campaign followed in which Kim was variously described as in critical condition, in a coma, or dead. One report originating in Japan showed Kim in a badly photoshopped image taken of his father's glass display coffin. The Daily NK story had only one unidentified source alleged to be inside North Korea, but started an avalanche of speculative news reports around the world based on nothing but rumors and hearsay from unreliable sources. Donga.com has been updating their English language translation of their original report:


[exclusive] Kim Jong Un seen to be walking around in Wonsan, says U.S. official
Posted April. 25, 2020 10:23, Updated April. 27, 2020 09:00
jkim

It has been reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un who has recently become subject to rumors about his health moved to Wonsan to avoid COVID-19. The U.S. authorities captured Kim walking on his own.

“It has been identified that Kim Jong Un had been staying in Wonsan during the entire last week,” said a U.S. government official. “He was seen to be walking on his own between April 15 and 20.” It has been reported that the movements of Kim’s cars and close associates were also witnessed and Kim was walking on his own without help from others or being in a wheelchair. The U.S. authorities seem to have identified such information based on the analysis of radars and images captured by reconnaissance planes.

http://www.donga.com/en/home/article/all/20200425/2047198/1/Kim-Jong-Un-seen-to-be-walking-around-in-Wonsan-says-U-S-official

(Source- TBS, Kim Aw-joon News. 4.26) "김정은 건강이상설, 외신발 가짜뉴스 넘쳐... 정부 발표 신뢰해"(정세현 수석부의장)│김어준의 뉴스 Kim Jong-un's health critical story, foreign produced fake news...believe our government." Kim Aw-joon (left); Jeong Se-hyun (right)

In an interview April 26, Jeong Se-hyun, a former South Korean Unification Minister, with close ties to the current administration of South Korea, said the imagery that identified Kim Jong-un in Wonsan, North Korea, walking around with aides and associates, was from a reconnaissance aircraft rather than a satellite, and was clear with high resolution making Kim's identification possible. Jeong commented that stories in CNN and other US and foreign mainstream media were "fake news," and there was really no significant difference in opinion between the US and South Korea intelligence agencies in interpretation and significance of the shared intelligence information concerning their assessment of Kim's presence at Wonsan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeong_Se-hyun

Jeong has considerably more expertise on North Korea, than anyone appearing or writing in the US media on this subject.

Kim Jong-un was observed at his Wonsan pad walking without assistance during the period from Apr 15 from Apr 20. I think imagery with a 7 to 10 centimeter resolution could easily identify Kim and his entourage at the facility. If there were any doubts they could potentially be dispelled by elint confirmation of related security movements and communications data. This is exactly what the earlier Donga exclusive report implied. I heard a South Korean expert on North Korea two days ago on a mainstream South Korean news broadcast confirm this view when he said it was a crucial judgement for the Blue House to determine that the need to assure the public was greater than the need to preserve secrecy concerning technical capabilities. The US government doesn't want to reveal the source of the information because of Trump's twitter blunder concerning a failed Iranian missile launch Aug 31, 2019, in which he publicized confidential satellite imagery to the public.

The source as reported in the original Donga reports was the US, as related by two South Korean government sources. The information was related to Donga media in an exclusive by 2 unnamed officials from the Ministry of Defense and the South Korean administration. This has been reported in South Korea for over three days now.

According to JTBC News April 26 an unnamed source from the Chinese International Liaison Office told them directly today that their team had gone to North Korea to advise Kim concerning coronavirus concerns by the North Korean government.