I think he is correct about Kim Jong Un.

In introducing his This Week in Pictures, PowerLine's Steven Hayward writes today,

My hunch about Kim Jong Un is that he’s hiding out in a remote, undisclosed location to avoid contracting the coronavirus, but can’t dare show his face without provoking a backlash among the rest of the Nork elite along whom the virus is rumored to be running rampant. Better to cultivate uncertainty and confusion. Meanwhile, Joe Biden came out of hiding, tan, rested, and ready. Um. . .

Check out his pictures here.

Not dead

South Korea says the reports from CNN and NBC about Kim Jong Un being dead are false. We should have known!

Kim Jong Un brain dead?

In News Thud, JC McCallum has been trying to keep us informed about Kim Jong Un, North Korea's dictator. Reuters reported, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is receiving treatment after undergoing a cardiovascular procedure early this month, a South Korean media report said, amid speculation over Kim’s health following his absence from a key anniversary event. North Korea marked the anniversary of the birthday of its founding father and Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, as a national holiday on April 15, but Kim was not seen in attendance.

NBC said it has confirmation that Kim is brain dead but now has deleted that tweet.
Read more here.

Smart call

He spent a lot of time with him, but he has never met him!

Joe Biden is saying he spent a lot of time with Kim Jong Un despite never meeting him. What’s going on with Joe? 🤨🧐 pic.twitter.com/mwl7kgGLXf

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) December 1, 2019

Let's hope!

Thrilled to be with their dear leader

hat tip Johnny Redux

Moment of clarity

Can't hurt to try!

Another one from Ninety Miles from Tyranny

Disappeared

Fears are growing for the safety of North Korea’s first lady, who has vanished from public view for the past seven months.

Ri Sol-ju is thought to have tied the knot with her food-loving fella Kim Jong Un in 2009 and soon after she gave birth to his child and heir to the hermit state.

Sporting designer clothes and pricey handbags, she has since appeared alongside her hubby as he tours factories and theme parks.

But now the slim and attractive spouse has vanished from public view after last being seen at a sporting event in March.

North Korea observers fear she could have fallen foul of her despotic husband or incurred the wrath of his equally menacing sister, Kim Yo Jong.

Experts believe Yo Jong is the power behind the throne and is even more deadly than her brother.

Concern is also mounting for Kim’s wife because of the gruesome fate of people who cross the loony leader.

In August, it emerged he had executed one of North Korea’s top officials with an anti-aircraft gun after the man fell asleep in a meeting.

Read more here.

New opportunities for Kin Jong Un

h/t Hal

Not happy

Remember this cute little fella?

Kara O'Neill reports at The Daily Mirror,

North Korea threatens to turn US and South Korean armies into a 'heap of ashes' after military exercises.

Kim Jong Un's government threatened a nuclear strike against the countries if they showed any form of aggression as they stage joint maneuvres.

Kim Jong Un's government threatened a nuclear strike against the countries if they showed any form of aggression as they stage joint manoeuvres
North Korea has condemned the US and South Korean armies after they were spotted performing joint military exercises and threatened to turn both armies into "a heap of ashes".

The United States and South Korea kicked off their annual military exercises today, prompting warnings of retaliation from the North - in the form of a pre-emptive nuclear strike.

Tension is already heightened on the peninsula after the defection of a Pyongyang diplomat.

About 25,000 U.S. troops are joining in the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise, which runs until September 2.

Read more here.

"Just not predictable"

Missile appears in a military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the Workers’ Party / AP

Bill Gertz reports at the Washington Free Beacon,

North Korea is capable of hitting the United States with a long-range nuclear missile, the commander of the U.S. Northern Command said last week.

“I agree with the intel community that we assess that they have the ability, they have the weapons, and they have the ability to miniaturize those weapons, and they have the ability to put them on a rocket that can range the homelands,” said Adm. William Gortney, the Northcom commander who is also in charge of defending the United States from long-range missile attack.

“And as the defender of North America, the United States officially, in the ballistic missile defense, I think the American people expect me to take the threat seriously,” he said Wednesday at the Atlantic Council.

The comments by Gortney were made days before North Korea held a military parade in Pyongyang marking the anniversary of the founding of the ruling communist Worker’s Party of Korea. Military analysts say the parade showcased a new variant of a long-range road-mobile missile built with Chinese assistance.

...“With the vengeful desire to turn the citadel of our enemies into a sea of fire, our powerful tactical rockets loaded with diversified and miniaturized nuclear warheads are on the move,” a North Korean commentator said during the parade as several columns of the mobile missiles were shown on television.

Mobile missiles are considered a greater strategic threat than silo-based missiles because they are more difficult to track and can be set up and launched with little or no warning.

...Gortney said he “looks longingly” back to the time of Kim’s father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, who, while threatening, was more predictable than the younger Kim.

Gortney noted that Kim has used unusually brutal means to execute his rivals, including his uncle Jang Sang Taek, who in December 2013 was executed by large caliber anti-aircraft guns after being charged with seeking to usurp power.

Kim’s “form of non-judicial punishment is pretty interesting—shooting people with anti-aircraft guns,” Gortney said, adding that Kim is “just not predictable.”

“We can live with some pretty ugly opponents as long as they’re predictable,” he said. “This guy I just can’t predict. … It’s just a very, very unpredictable and unstable situation over there.”

...you have a leader in North Korea who has nuclear weapons and is seeking the means to militarize them and deliver them intercontinentally, and that causes me great concern,” Harris said.

...Conventional North Korean forces include 20,000 to 30,000 artillery pieces within range of Seoul, the South Korean capital, as well as some 100,000 rockets within range of 28,000 American troops and their families along with another 700,000 American citizens who live in South Korea. “So I view the threat from North Korea very seriously,” Harris said.

...“One of the Obama administration’s key failures of resolve was its failure in 2012 to sanction Beijing over its sale to North Korea of the large sophisticated 16-wheel trucks that now carry North Korea’s nuclear ICBMs aimed at the United States,” he said.

...“But three years after these Chinese TELs appeared, and now with their third appearance in a North Korean military parade, the administration has yet to provide a substantive public explanation to the American people about China’s assistance for North Korean ICBMs that can now devastate American cities,” Fisher said.

Read more here.