What happened to Kim Jong-un’s eyebrows?

January 2, 2015
Kim Jong-un

The South China Morning Post published a side-by-side comparison of a photo taken in 2013, and one taken Thursday to illustrate the North Korean leader’s vanishing brows.

When North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivered his New Year’s Day speech this week, it wasn’t just his apparent shift in attitude towards South Korea that was different.

Half of his eyebrows seem to have disappeared.

The South China Morning Post published a side-by-side comparison of a photo taken in 2013, and one taken Thursday to illustrate the North Korean leader’s vanishing brows.

In the more recent picture, there are two short stubs of hair on Kim’s forehead, compared to what used to be natural-looking arches.

“It is only by trawling the photo archives back to around 2011 that one can see the arches of a man who clearly shunned the tweezers,” the report said.

Outside of what appears to have been some very aggressive tweezing, Kim’s posture and outfit were similar to those of his speech two years ago.