Yeah, that makes perfect sense, considering T'Kuvma 's whole shtick is "Remain Klingon". Especially when during ST: Enterprise the Klingons augmented themselves.
My personal fan theory is that the pasty white skin is the effect of allergic reaction of Klingon's skin to too much tribble exposure. Tribbles offered a way to keep live meat on space ships and perhaps it took years for the skin affliction to manifest. Think of it as that generation's equivalent of the 1960s where everyone smoked cigarettes and people finally figured out that's why there was so much lung cancer.
That's why Klingons exterminated the Tribble homeworld.