Reports of Kim Jong Un brutally slaying a general who dared to defy him have begun circulating as the North Korean leader thumps his chest to warn Donald Trump of Pyongyang’s “nuclear arsenal.”
Apparently feeling left out as Trump directs his focus on the threats posed by Iran, Kim cited the U.S. president’s strikes in the Middle East on Monday while vowing to become a “nuclear power” and bragging that “we now possess the power to pose a threat."
His pointed message to Washington coincided with dubious reports of his own “merciless” methods in dealing with enemies, ones that at one point seemed to win admiration from Trump, who was caught on a hot mic in 2018 admitting that he was almost envious of the fear the North Korean leader instilled in his people: “He speaks and his people sit up at attention ... I wish my people would do the same,” he said at the time.
The bone-chilling claim of Kim exacting vengeance on his foes first surfaced in 2019 but inexplicably exploded back in international news outlets this week. Per those very questionable reports, Kim carried out a James Bond villain-inspired murder of a top general who went against him.
The unnamed North Korean general was said to have been “slashed up” with knives and thrown into a tank of piranhas at the Supreme Leader’s official residence for allegedly plotting a coup. The scene described is reminiscent of North Korean propaganda films masquerading as action thrillers that Kim has reportedly been closely involved in helping to produce.
Following Kim’s speech at the Supreme People’s Assembly on Monday, where he flaunted the country’s nuclear ambitions apparently to spite Trump, the story began recirculating.
However, the shocking report lacks any publicly available primary evidence, such as court records, verifiable witness accounts, or official statements, to support that the killing actually took place, according to International Business Times.
Though the country does conduct executions, the allegation that a piranha tank was used to kill a military official is dubious, since the report relies on unsubstantiated sourcing and isn’t supported by any direct evidence in the public domain.
During Kim’s Monday address, he doubled down on bolstering the nation’s nuclear arsenal in opposition to the United States.
The North Korean leader asserted that his continued pursuit of nuclear armaments was justified by the “acts of terror and aggression that the United States is committing throughout the world,” likely in reference to Trump’s war on Iran that began nearly a month ago and his surprise capture of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3.
“Today’s reality clearly demonstrates the legitimacy of our nation’s strategic choice and decision to reject the enemies’ sweet talk and permanently secure our nuclear arsenal,” Kim said, according to The New York Times.
Last month, Kim said that North Korea’s relationship with the U.S. could improve if Washington recognized the nation as a nuclear-armed state, according to reports from state media.
The North Korean leader said in September that he had “good memories” of Trump, 79, whom he had last met in person in the DMZ in 2019, although he said another meeting would hinge upon whether the U.S. drops its insistence on the country’s denuclearization.
When the leaders met for a diplomatic summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February of that year, the meeting ended in failure, as both Trump and Kim refused to reach an agreement on nuclear disarmament and sanctions against the authoritarian nation, the Times reported.
“Sometimes you have to walk,” Trump said at the time. “Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, but we couldn’t do that.”
The Daily Beast reached out to the White House for comment.
