# Kim Jong Un conspicuously absent from important celebration **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 10, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-jong-un-conspicuously-absent-from-important-celebration/700984 "2014-10-10T17:14:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-jong-un-conspicuously-absent-from-important-celebration/700984/21 "2014-10-11T04:00:30Z")
From [_Slate_](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/10/10/kim_jong_un_workers_party_anniversary_north_korean_leader_still_absent.html): > [@](#): > > South Korean activists marked the Workers’ Party anniversary by releasing balloons over the countries’ border, to which the North apparently responded by firing machine guns, to which the South responded by firing rifles, to which the North responded by firing its own rifles. No injuries or deaths were reported, though fatal exchanges of fire between the two countries are [not unheard of](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/world/asia/24korea.html?pagewanted=all). _Ninety-nine red balloons…_ ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-jong-un-conspicuously-absent-from-important-celebration/700984/22 "2014-10-11T07:44:59Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Maybe Kim Jong-un isn’t even in North Korea any more. > > Maybe he’s… > > _ **RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!!** _ Seriously? We’re supposed to be afraid of him? Kim Jong Un is probably the least threatening ruler since [Carlos the Sufferer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_Spain). ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-jong-un-conspicuously-absent-from-important-celebration/700984/23 "2014-10-11T08:07:08Z")
And Dennis Rodman, CIA agent extraordinaire, saves the world yet again. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-jong-un-conspicuously-absent-from-important-celebration/700984/24 "2014-10-11T08:35:54Z")
Kim Jong Unavailable. (Because Kim Jong Ill.) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-jong-un-conspicuously-absent-from-important-celebration/700984/25 "2014-10-11T14:40:43Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Kim Jong-un _is_ the number three son. His two older brothers Kim Jong-nam and Kim Jong-chul were passed over. > > Jong-nam lost favor because he tried to sneak into Disneyland Tokyo (you can’t make this stuff up), while Jong-chul is apparently the Fredo of the Kim clan (his father supposedly said he is “no good because he is like a little girl”). Wait. I thought Kim Jong-Un was the oldest and that his younger brothers were named Kim Jong-Deux and Kim Jong-Trois. N’est-ce pas? ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-jong-un-conspicuously-absent-from-important-celebration/700984/26 "2014-10-11T17:38:35Z")
My guess: secret weight-reduction surgery. You read it here first. I’m always right, and I never lie. ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-jong-un-conspicuously-absent-from-important-celebration/700984/27 "2014-10-11T18:08:48Z")
> [@seal\_cleaner](#): > > My guess: secret weight-reduction surgery. You read it here first. I’m always right, and I never lie. Scary. I think you nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-jong-un-conspicuously-absent-from-important-celebration/700984/28 "2014-10-11T19:33:28Z")
I thought he wanted to get fat because it made him look like Kim il Sung and because fat people are admired in NK. Who knows, all we can do is speculate. The most recent story is that Kim was watching a military exercise and demanded all his generals go through the boot camp exercises as well as Kim, and Kim hurt his leg. That could be true, but that sounds like pro-Kim propaganda. Either his grip on power is tenuous, or it is very strong. I don’t see his behavior the last month as pointing to anything but one of those two. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-jong-un-conspicuously-absent-from-important-celebration/700984/29 "2014-10-11T20:35:30Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Either his grip on power is tenuous, or it is very strong. I don’t see his behavior the last month as pointing to anything but one of those two. So far, I’d say this is the only thing we can actually determine based on the information available to us. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-jong-un-conspicuously-absent-from-important-celebration/700984/30 "2014-10-11T22:44:06Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > So far, I’d say this is the only thing we can actually determine based on the information available to us. Only time will tell. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-jong-un-conspicuously-absent-from-important-celebration/700984.md?page=1)