Ill Kim Jong Il?

A veteran Japanese expert on North Korea says Kim Jong Il, the “dear leader”, is actually dead — and his role is played by a double.

The two pictures here are from 2001 and 2006, respectively.

The expert says Kim died of diabetes in 2003 and world leaders, including Vladimir Putin of Russia and Hu Jintao of China, have been negotiating with an imposter.

He believes that Kim, fearing assassination, had groomed up to four look-alikes to act as substitutes at public events. One underwent plastic surgery to make his appearance more convincing. Now, the expert claims, the actors are brought on stage whenever required to persuade the masses that Kim is alive.

The author has been derided by rival analysts of the hermetic communist state. Yet so few facts are known about North Korea’s ruling dynasty that some of the strange things reported in Professor Toshimitsu Shigemura’s bestselling book cannot be readily explained.

The book, "The True Character of Kim Jong-il," cites sources from inside North Korea and from the intelligence services of Japan and South Korea.