Kim Jong-il Looked After by S'pore-Trained Medical Staff
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Kim Jong-il Looked After by S'pore-Trained Medical Staff
Two North Korean medical teams in charge of looking after leader Kim Jong-il's health were secretly trained in brain disease-related rehabilitation in Singapore last year, the Kyodo news agency reported Monday.
The teams "consisted mostly of women who looked about 30 years old. The Singaporean government accepted the North's request for their training and let them enter Singapore," it quoted a source as saying.
The two North Korean medical teams received a month of intensive training at the internal medicine and surgery departments of a Singaporean hospital.
The North chose Singapore because healthcare is considered the best in Southeast Asia, the news agency added. The North has an embassy in Singapore.
Kim had surgery after a stroke in August 2008. He lost weight dramatically and has had trouble using his left hand since. He missed a military parade on the 60th anniversary of the regime on Sept. 9 that year.
This year, two French doctors reportedly visited the North and examined Kim.http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/10/11/2011101100490.html
N.Korea Doctoring Pictures of Kim Jong-il
The North Korean regime routinely photoshopped images of leader Kim Jong-il to cover up dark spots on his cheeks.
A South Korean government official said Monday, "Until last year, we believed Kim Jong-il had dark spots removed from his face. But we've recently obtained a lot of evidence showing that the regime is photoshopping mugshots."
The clue was in photos of Kim in the Chinese media. A South Korean security official said, "All photos provided by the Chinese press show images of him with a face full of liver spots on his cheeks, while those released by North Korean media show a smooth skin tone."
From left, pictures of Kim Jong-il on May 23, June 2, July12, and July 29The most conspicuous picture was shown on CCTV and features Kim in Yangzhou in the Chinese province of Jiangsu on May 23. But in a photo released on May 28 by the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency, which it claimed shows Kim inspecting Huichon Power Station, he has no liver spots on his face. Another image shows him inspecting a fish farm on June 2, again without liver spots.
But in a photo taken by a Xinhua news agency cameraman, which shows Kim meeting with Chinese official Li Yuanchao in Pyongyang on June 13, he has liver spots again.
On his July 6 visit to Sinam Cooperative Farm in North Pyongan Province, the KCNA seems to have photoshopped his skin clean again.
But in a picture released by Chinese media on July 12, he has dark spots on his face again.http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/08/23/2011082300335.html