AceShowbiz - Kim Jong Un is apparently fighting for his life right now. It's been reported that the leader of North Korea has fallen into a coma as he transferred some of his power to his younger sister, Kim Yo Jong. Chang Song Min, a former aide to the late South Korean president Kim Dae Jung, first broke the news to the world.

"I assess him to be in a coma, but his life has not ended," he told South Korean media, before pointing out that while Kim Yo Jong is serving as his "de facto second-in-command" now, she has not been designated as his successor. "A complete succession structure has not been formed, so Kim Yo-jong is being brought to the fore as the vacuum cannot be maintained for a prolonged period," Chang Song Min continued.

Speculation about Kim Jong Un's failing health started running rampant earlier this year after the president, who historically has kept a grueling schedule filled with public appearances, began to disappear from the public eyes on several occasions without explanation.

Last April, reports suggested that Kim Jong Un passed away after an operation to insert a stent in his heart went wrong. However, the report was later debunked by South Korean president adviser Moon Chung In as he told CNN that the North Korea leader was "alive and well" despite speculation of his well-being.

Further shutting down the death rumors, Kim Jong Un later made a public appearance by attending a ceremony celebrating the completion of a fertilizer factory near the capital of Pyongyang. "KJU was reported to have attended a ribbon cutting event at the Sunchon fertilizer factory to mark May 1’s International Labor Day, making it his first public appearance in state media in 21 days," NK News wrote on Twitter alongside some new photos of Kim in the ceremony.