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SEOUL, South Korea — The surprise news set off a predictable wildfire of speculation and rumours south of the border.

Almost as soon as North Korea announced this week that its army chief had been dismissed due to “illness,” the aggressive South Korean media went into hyperdrive. By Friday a newspaper, citing “unconfirmed intelligence reports,” said Ri Yong Ho may have been wounded or killed in a blaze of gunfire when soldiers loyal to him resisted an armed attempt to detain him.

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So which is it — illness or a gun battle? Perhaps neither. North Korea watchers are skeptical of the illness claim, but even an unnamed government official cited in the South Korean account said the firefight “has still not been 100 per cent confirmed.”

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This is what happens when insatiably curious journalists in Seoul are starved for information about their tight-lipped, isolated rival to the north.