Not dead, just shopping. North Korean dictator shows up at expo to shut down haters

October 21, 2026 — 5:48pm

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Beijing: Since taking power in 2011, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has died at least three or four times.

On one occasion, it was during failed heart surgery. Another time, he was assassinated. And, as recently as this week, he expired in a Beijing hospital after suffering a brain haemorrhage.

The reports of his demise, as Mark Twain would put it, were greatly exaggerated.

In an apparent bid to dispel the latest rumours, North Korean state media on Tuesday released photos of Kim visiting a clothing and shoe expo in Pyongyang a day earlier, looking distinctly alive.

In one photo, the 42-year-old supreme leader is inspecting a pale pink sneaker held by his daughter Kim Ju-ae, 13.

As a totalitarian state, North Korea’s state-run media is a propaganda machine whose fundamental role is to reinforce the Kim regime’s grip on power. The information it publishes is difficult to independently verify due to the country’s extreme secrecy and largely impervious border with the outside world.

This secrecy ensures Kim’s health remains a constant source........

© The Sydney Morning Herald