Tuesday, September 30, 2014
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Phil putt in his place over outburst
Sport: pAGES 21, 24
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A ouija board on social media – what could go wrong? pAGE 6
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MisadvenTure verdicT on MoTher’s deaTh pAGE 7
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‘cheese addict’ Kim in a pickle
A MASSIVE addiction to cheese could by con doherTy be making North Korea’s authoritarian And then, on Thursday, his usual seat leader sick, a source has said. Kim Jong Un has made no public ap- was empty at a session of the country’s pearances for three weeks, skipping a rubber stamp parliament. Although Kim Jong Il occasionally high-profile event that he usually attends. An official documentary showed missed the meetings, it was the first nohim limping and overweight and men- show for Kim Jong Un since he took over after his father’s death in late 2011, tions his ‘discomfort’. Maybe it’s gout, unidentified sources Seoul officials said. The same day as the parliamentary have told South Korean reporters, or diabetes, or high blood pressure. A meeting, the North aired a documentary British report says the Swiss-educated with footage from August that showed a limping Kim inspecting a dictator has been laid low by tile factory. a massive cheese addiction. ‘Our marshal continues to A headline in Seoul offers light the path for the people up the possibility of a comlike a flame despite his dismon South Korean obsescomfort,’ a narrator said in sion: fried chicken and beer. the film. So what’s going on? MaySouth Korean officials be not much. have told reporters they don’t As is always the case, think anything serious is much more than what is seen publicly is happening Gout: Kim Jong Un happening, but that hasn’t stopped the rumours. behind the well-guarded North Korea’s propaganda specialists scenes with North Korea’s No.1. But just the fact that Pyongyang ac- carefully construct their media images, knowledges that Kim is ailing suggests especially those of Kim, with an eye on that he may not be suffering from any- the domestic elite and, to a lesser extent, on foreign, mostly South Korean, thing particularly serious. The recent health speculation started audiences. Whatever’s going on with the dictawhen Kim, always a large man, began showing up in pictures and video no- tor, avid North Korea watchers will get ticeably heavier, and with a distinct another chance for a carefully staged limp. For more than three weeks, he look on October 10, when the North hasn’t been seen performing his cus- stages a celebration of the founding tomary public duties in state media anniversary for the ruling Workers’ Party. coverage.
SEE SIDE DINING: A diver floats over an undersea restaurant att Haitang Bay in Sanya, in the Hainan province pr of China. The eatery, y, which draws 6,000 cubic metres of water from the ocean, includes more than 400 different species of marine organisms Picture: Getty
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