Falling off the wagon Kim? Chubby-looking North Korean dictator looks to have piled back on the pounds as he puffs a cigarette at opening of new 80-floor skyscraper in North Korea

• New video shows Kim Yong-Un smoking a cigarette and as fat as ever 
• Last year Mr Kim shed 40lbs after disappearing from public view for months 
• It prompted speculation that the morbidly obese despot was suffering ill health
• The pictures of Mr Kim smoking come after passing a tough new smoking ban 
• Despot has regained rotund figure as his country battles food shortages 

Kim Jong-Un has been seen puffing away on a cigarette and looking back to his usual chubby self just months after slimming down ‘for the sake of the country’, state media video shows.

Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released video of the dictator attending the completion ceremony of major housing project to adoring crowds in Pyongyang.

And while there was little they could do to conceal the return of his protruding belly, they made the decision to show a clip of him smoking while chatting to his generals.

The hermit kingdom, which views Mr Kim as a faultless deity, passed a tough new law just 18 months ago forbidding smoking in public places, so the images technically depict their dear leader breaking the law. 

On top of the public health issue around smoking, North Korea has been grappling with severe food shortages, prompting Mr Kim to eat less ‘for the sake of the country’, government officials said last year.

Eyebrows were raised when photos and videos of the usually chubby despot looking gaunt last December, with speculation about his health after he had disappeared from public view for for months.

Mr Kim disappeared from public view between January and May last year. He returned 40lbs lighter looking ’emaciated’, according to his own state television, sparking speculationg as to whether the weight loss was deliberate or due to illness. 

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was pictured during the opening ceremony of a new apartment block looking back to his usual obese weight and holding a cigarette

The country passed a tough new law just 18 months ago forbidding smoking in public places, a law which the dear leader continually flouts during all publicised events 

After losing 40lbs last year, the 5ft 7in dictator appears to be back to near his usual 300lb weight

Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released video of the usually-chunky dictator attending the completion ceremony of major housing project to adoring crowds in Pyongyang

Hundreds of adoring North Koreans were in attendance to see the man they view as a living deity launch the opening

But these new images of a rotund Mr Kim would seem to dispel theories that the strongman had had a a gastric bypass procedure. 

Mr Kim’s weight ballooned to 300lbs soon after he came to power after the death of his father, thought to be driven in large part from his love of Swiss cheese that he picked up while at school in Switzerland.

The 5.7′ despot suffers from morbid obesity, prompting concerns about associated illnesses such as cardiac disease, secondary diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, hypertension and elevated cholesterol.

Kim, pictured above, looking slimmer than usual attending the 4th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea in December 2021

North Korea leader Kim Jong Un visits a munitions factory producing what state media KCNA says is a ‘major weapon system’ in January 2022

On top of that, both his father, Kim Jong Il, and his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, both died of heart attacks. The health of the dictator is always a closely guarded state secret. 

The impoverished, nuclear-armed country has been hit by severe flooding in recent years which has left families without homes and is currently tackling a food crisis as the nation struggles to feed itself amid the Covid-19 pandemic. 

A North Korean resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: ‘Telling us to endure hardship until 2025 is the same as telling us to starve to death’. 

A second source claimed that the North Korean government is attempting to spin the food shortages as a result of their effective Covid-19 strategy, which they say has worked well.

The government has blamed external factors for their food shortages though, citing sanctions imposed on them, natural disasters and the global coronavirus pandemic.

State media and government officials have said that Kim Jong Un’s apparent weight loss is symptomatic of his desire to ‘eat less to help the country’ amid the food shortages, and in August banned citizens from discussing it, labelling gossip as a ‘reactionary act’.

Analysts say the remarks showed authorities were seeking to use the change to Kim’s weight to reinforce loyalty to the regime in desperate times.

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