Video Claiming Kim Jong Un Died Is Circulating in North Korea

A video purporting North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has died has been seen in parts of North Korea near the border with China, according to Daily NK.

Kim has not been seen publicly since attending a politburo meeting April 11, and rumors he was injured or sick have spread online.

"The video in question looks like it was broadcast by Korean Central Television [KCTV] and entered the country through China," a source in North Pyongan Province told Daily NK earlier this week. "The video claims that Kim suddenly died during on-the-spot guidance," or an in-person inspection, of a cruise missile launch.

The roughly five-minute long video shows the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun with a caption stating: "Our Beloved Supreme Leader Comrade Kim Jong Un passed away during on-the-spot guidance" Saturday, April 25 at 12:30 a.m. (local time), and Kim Yo Jong, Kim's sister and the first deputy director of the North Korean communist party’s Propaganda and Agitation Department, will take over as leader of the country.

The video also shows clips from a ceremony commemorating Kim Jong Il following his death, and shows a false newspaper article from the Japanese pro-North Korea periodical "The People's Korea."

One source said authorities in North Korea are trying to identify the person or persons who spread the video, and "The Ministry of State Security and local police offices are keeping a close eye on those making international calls and text messages."

"This video bewildered both ordinary citizens as well as party members and other officials when they first saw it," one source said. "After it was flagged as a serious issue, however, nobody has been able to openly discuss the video."

"The authorities have created a special unit from the Organization and Guidance Department, the Public Prosecutors' Office, the MSS and other law enforcement agencies, to identify the leaker," this source continued. "With the investigation intensifying, anyone who's been making calls to China for business reasons has been lying low."

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