Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Kim-Jong-il at a military parade in 2010 AP Photo/Vincent Yu
North Korea

French doctor confirms Kim Jong-il had severe stroke in 2008

Dr Francois-Xavier Roux said the North Korean leader was “in a coma” when he was flown to Pyongyang to treat him two years ago.

A FRENCH NEUROSURGEON who says he secretly treated Kim Jong-il confirmed Monday that the reclusive North Korean leader had a debilitating stroke in 2008.

Dr Francois-Xavier Roux said he was flown urgently to North Korea in August 2008 to examine Kim, who was unconscious and “in a bad way” while in intensive care at Pyongyang’s Red Cross Hospital.

The trip and medical examination of Kim gave Roux, who today is chief of neurosurgery at Sainte Anne Hospital in Paris, nearly unparalleled access for a Westerner to the North Korean regime and an intimate view of its enigmatic, weakened chief.

Roux spoke to The Associated Press after North Korean state media said the supreme leader died at age 69 two days earlier.

North Korean officials first contacted Roux by phone in 1993 after Kim had a “small head injury, following a horse-riding accident,” the doctor said, adding that he never understood why they had sought him out.

The stroke three years ago prompted North Korea to contact Roux again, and this time North Korean authorities arranged for the doctor to come to Pyongyang, the capital of the secretive nation.

Coma

“First, when they came to get me in 2008, I didn’t know who I was leaving to go see over there,” said Roux. “They don’t say – they’re very secret.”

“When I arrived, he was in a coma. He was in intensive care, in a coma, in a bad way,” Roux said, referring to his visit of about a week or two in August and early September 2008.

Citing doctor-patient privilege and state secrecy, Roux declined to say how he had examined Kim, or indicate what treatment he had recommended.

“My job was to try and save him from this critical state by talking with the other doctors, by giving medical advice, etc. He was in a life-threatening situation,” Roux said.

Asked whether his medical care had helped bring Kim out of the coma, Roux replied: “That’s certain.” He said Kim was conscious and speaking before the doctor returned to France in September.

After the stroke, Kim’s chances of dying grew with time, Roux said.

Roux said he “rather regularly” saw Kim Jong Un – the late leader’s 20-something son and heir apparent – during his 2008 trip, and recalled that he was often at his father’s bedside.

Roux said it was “very difficult” to get a sense about the son’s personality, because “he didn’t speak to anyone” on the French medical team that Roux was leading.

- Jamey Keaten

Full coverage of the death of Kim Jong-il on TheJournal.ie>

Author
Associated Foreign Press
Your Voice
Readers Comments
3
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.