Solved: it was a cyst that floored North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
South Korean spy agency says ankle operation was behind six-week absence of North's leader
South Korea's spy agency said it has solved the mystery of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's six-week public absence, which set off a frenzy of speculation.
The National Intelligence Service told legislators that a foreign doctor operated on Kim in September or October to remove a cyst from his right ankle, according to Park Byeong-seok, an aide for opposition lawmaker Shin Kyung-min. The aide said the spy agency also told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that the cyst could recur because of Kim's obesity, smoking and heavy public schedule.
The South Korean daily reported earlier this month that a French surgeon operated on Kim's ankles and the leader was recovering at a private estate north of Pyongyang.
In September, North Korean authorities, in a rare display of openness about their leader's health, admitted Kim was suffering from an "uncomfortable physical condition'.
After last being seen in state media on September 3, Kim reappeared on October 14 hobbling with a cane, but smiling and looking thinner.
The speculation during his absence was particularly intense because of the Kim family's importance to impoverished, nuclear-armed North Korea. The family has ruled the country since its founding in 1948.
