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Video: Kim Jong Il Greets the Rubber Stamps; Taepodong Launch

In the video, His Porcine Shriveled Majesty is noticeably gaunt as he shuffles stiffly onto the floor of the Supreme Peoples’ Assembly. He’s aged ten years in the last year. The video also appears to show North Korea’s most recent missile test, which is interesting, but not as interesting as the system of hillside pipes shown at 1:38. Google Earthers will recognize them instantly; contraptions like these are a common sight along North Korea’s east coast, but I’ve never figured out what they are. Any suggestions? Curtis? Watch:

The New York Times has more, if cliche “conventional wisdom” speculation is your sort of thing.

Update: These comments by Sonagi and Steve are more interesting.

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  1. His mouth definitely looks lopsided in the video. When he is not smiling, the left side of the mouth looks pursed while the right looks normal. When he talks, the right side opens wider than the left, and his mouth looks diagonally crooked with his lower left lip drooping a little. I googled images and did notice such clear assymmetry in still photos. I wasn’t able to find any videos with his mouth moving on Youtube. I noticed that footage of the parliament meeting did not show him actually speaking, but he is seen speaking to a small group in other scenes. If there is lateralized stroke damage, then his speech would be impaired, and if it is impaired, then speaking in front of a large audience would increase the chance that news of this would reach the outside world. I’ll believe Kim Jong-il is healthy when I actually hear him speak. These staged photo-ops only show that he can stand upright for periods of time without assistance, which is still good for a stroke victim. Looks like he got top-notch medical care from those French doctors.

  3. This is the Wonsan Youth Power Station No. 1. There are more of these types of power plants in the north of the country. I believe they are designed to use gravity to channel water downhill to rotate the turbines and generate electricity.