Kim Jong Un: Dead or Alive?
Kim Jong Un is at death’s door. The ruthless dictator of North Korea is in critical condition following a botched cardiovascular operation, and that’s all anybody knows!
South Korea’s currency, the won, took a blow on fears of his dying wishes. North Korea is a big talker, anti-ballistic, and outcast from global trade. Its relations with the South have simmered for generations. The press of a button is all it takes…
As a man of “authority of the highest dignity,” Kim’s sudden incapacitation would leave a hole in North Korean leadership. For the sake of maintaining public order, developing the missile program, and preventing a military coup, the guy needs an automatic heir.
It won’t be his uncle, a “traitor and turncoat” already fed to 120 starving dogs. It won’t be one of five diplomatic envoys to the United States, all executed or put in political prisons. It won’t be the army chief, killed with mortar rounds for drinking during the mourning period of Kim’s father. The most likely “Great Successor” may be his sister, Kim Yo Jong.
She’s her brother’s alter-ego, but many think she would prioritize fixing the economy. The United States has offered to lift crippling economic sanctions if North Korea abandons its war games.
With an existential threat to East Asian civilization gone, risk premiums attached to the South Korean and Japanese stocks would lower, and those markets would trade higher.
Yo Jong could also talk herself into a war. In which case, American markets could briefly wobble as the aerospace and defense sector is called into action. Raytheon Technologies, a newly merged arms dealer, and Lockheed Martin, the multi-billion-dollar air combat support provider, are 95% bullish picks according to the Invstr community right now.
Market players are trading on fragments of intel. Lil Kim, you still out there?
