[Opinion] Ko Young-hee and a French Hospital

It has been discovered that Kim Jong-il’s wife, Ko Young-hee, died three months ago in France.

North Korea has not yet made an official announcement about her death, but given various pieces of circumstantial evidence, the news does not look like a groundless rumor. By making no comments about the death of Ko Young-hee, who was often referred to as “first lady,” North Korea has once again proven its reclusiveness to the world. She passed away at age 51 in France, and we are curious to know why she died in France.

We have several clues. Before her visit to France, a military officer, Oh Jin-woo, received lung cancer treatments in France in 1994. He was one of those who led North Korea’s communist revolution and was ranked second following the deceased Kim Il-sung. The North secretly sent him to France in order to hide his critical condition from the outside world, and France also kept the visit a secret. But with Korean correspondents’ persistence, the world was able to see Oh Jin-woo riding a car after receiving his first treatment at Laenne Hospital in Paris.

So, why has France become the favorite destination for North Korea’s high-ranking officials? First of all, they have a high opinion of French medicine. Laenne Hospital commands great authority in lung cancer treatments. We do not know whether or not Ko Young-hee received treatment at the Laenne, but she must have been given the best treatments. Second, France provides total confidentiality. Unlike Oh Jin-woo, nobody knew this time that Ko Young-hee was in France. Finally, the French government’s generous policy that permits visits of high-ranking officials from unfriendly nations for medical treatments is another reason. When the news came out that Iraqi Vice Prime Minister Tariq Aziz came to France to receive treatments after the Gulf War, the French government explained that it was a humanitarian move, and the French people did not raise any questions.

We have closely watched the death of Ko Young-hee because it may somehow affect the North Korean ruling class. The first wife of Kim Jong-il, Sung Hye-rim, who gave birth to his first son Kim Jung-nam, was buried in Moscow, Russia. But it has been known that Ko Young-hee’s body has been moved to Pyongyang to be buried in Mankyungdae, where Kim’s family members have been buried. That is why speculations are rising that Ko’s son Kim Jung-cheol might become the successor to Kim Jong-il. North Korea might have hidden her death due to such a sensitive and complicated issue. We are also keeping a close eye on the situation.

Bang Hyeong-nam, editorial writer, hnbhang@donga.com