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Kim Jong Un has gained 90 pounds since assuming power

The North Korean leader is paranoid about his personal safety.

By Elizabeth Shim
Kim Jong Un, shown in a recent appearance, has added nearly 100 pounds since 2012, Seoul’s spy agency said Friday. File Photo by Rodong Sinmun
Kim Jong Un, shown in a recent appearance, has added nearly 100 pounds since 2012, Seoul’s spy agency said Friday. File Photo by Rodong Sinmun

SEOUL, July 1 (UPI) -- Kim Jong Un has gained a significant amount of weight since fully assuming power in 2012 and now weighs 287 pounds, according to Seoul's spy agency.

The North Korean leader, now about 90 pounds heavier than he was four years ago, also suffers from insomnia and is constantly worried about his personal safety, said Lee Cheol-uoo, a South Korean ruling party lawmaker.

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Lee was reporting information given to him and other parliamentarians during a meeting with the National Intelligence Service, Yonhap reported.

"When Kim first came to power in 2012 he weighed [198 pounds] but in 2014 he weighed [264 pounds] and most recently is believed to weigh about [286 pounds]," Lee said Friday.

Lee also said Kim feel "threats" from North Korea's People's Army.

"[Kim Jong Un] checks on threats from the military, and suffers from distress due to the general threat to his personal safety," the South Korean parliamentarian said.

Kim is also sensitive about his personal information making its way into North Korea.

According to Lee, the spy agency stated a recent Washington Post article about Kim's aunt and uncle, resettled in the United States in the late '90s, was the target of North Korean embassy censors.

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"Immediately after the report was published [Kim told] his ambassadors abroad such documents should be prevented from reaching North Korea at all costs," Lee said, because Kim fears the "fiction of the Mount Paektu bloodline would be exposed."

The article, published on May 27, included extensive interviews with Kim's maternal aunt, who is the sister of his mother, Ko Yong Hui.

The aunt had described her nephew as "short-tempered" and lacking in tolerance.

Seoul's spy agency also said Kim's other aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, is alive and recovering from alcoholism.

Kim Kyong Hui is the sister of former leader Kim Jong Il and the wife of executed North Korean official Jang Sung Taek.

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