Most Western intelligence sources are reluctant to predict anything about the fate of Kim Jong Un. However, three South Korean experts, who closely monitor developments in North Korea, told Newsmax Thursday that the 36-year-old strongman may be in his last days.

All three also agree that the passing of Kim could lead to tumultuous uncertainty and chaos in terms of who’s in charge.

Kim has no son and there is no obvious heir to the ruler who followed his father and whose grandfather Kim Il-Sung was handpicked by Joseph Stalin as the first head of Communist North Korea when it was founded in 1945.

“I do believe that Kim Jong-Un is in a critical condition," said Park Tae-woo, former visiting professor at the Graduate School of International Area Studies at HanKook University in South Korea, “This could be confirmed by the fact that he did not attend his grandfather's birthday ceremony on April 15.”

Park agreed Kim has no heir apparent, “since his children are less than ten years old and his sister YeoJung has not shown strong leadership as a substantial power behind the official party hierarchy.”

He added that if there was “any strong military leader or renowned figure, unofficially recognized by the North Koreans or if she is backed by the Chinese Communist Party or by Washington, an alternative collective leadership could be formed in a proper time — if the death of Kim Jong-Un is officially announced.”

“Kim can go anytime,” a longtime Pyongyang observer who wrote three books on North Korea told Newsmax, “His BMI ranges from 38.45 to 44 — depending on your estimation of his weight, and his recent photos indicate he is in obese II or obese III stage.”

The same observer pointed out that the North Korean leader “smokes, eats rich food, and drinks a lot — three of the worst conditions for heart failure [which claimed both his father and grandfather, albeit at ages 69 and 82 respectively]. And he has diabetes.”

This observer believes the reports of Kim’s disappearance resulting from illness because of two sources: NK Daily, a North Korean defectors’ website which the observer said “has good resources inside North Korea and is about 70 percent accurate,” and the “Tokyo Simbun,” a much-respected Japanese newspaper which reported Kim staying at his Wonsan villa after “one of his bodyguard unit members was diagnosed with Covid-19.”

Veteran South Korean journalist and White House correspondent Janne Pak agreed.

“Reasonable doubt is possible because North Korea never reports on the leader’s health anomalies,” she told us. “Also, it has been reported that the entire city of Pyongyang was blocked off.”

As to whether Kim Jong Un is in critical condition, Pak said, “His body is a factory of diseases.”

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.​