There definitely seems to be something afoot in North Korea as there has been some strange news coming out in recent days.
Kim Jong-un is out of the public eye recovering from his apparently fractured ankles, and in his absence it seems that he's lost control, or rather that he was a puppet anyway. On the weekend, in a very rare turn of events, officials from the Republic of South Korea met with their northern neighbours, and now it seems that the nation's capital is on lockdown.
The reasons for this are unclear, but the rumours suggest that it could be as a result of a coup, or at least an attempt at one. According to UPI, reports coming from inside North Korea have said that there is now a travel ban on the city of Pyongyang, both going in and coming out.
Professor Toshimitsu Shigemura of Tokyo's Waseda University, an expert on North Korean affairs, said that "this sort of action suggests there has either been an attempted coup or that the authorities there have uncovered some sort of plot against the leadership", adding that he had heard that Kim had been moved out of the capital as a result.
However, Andrei Lankov of Seoul's Kookmin University was there to offer another side of the story, saying that Kim's disappearance from public view is not unprecedented (he did so in 2012, notably) and stated that he more than likely would have signed off on the reports about his ill health. He also said that "if there had been regicide or revolt in Pyongyang, it's unlikely the wheels of North Korean diplomacy would spin like business as usual".
Via UPI
