Previous absences from the
public eye on Kim’s part have prompted speculation about his health.
In 2014 he dropped out of
sight for nearly six weeks before reappearing with a cane. Days later, the
South’s spy agency said he had undergone surgery to remove a cyst from his
ankle.
North Korean leader Kim
Jong Un is “alive and well”, a top security adviser to the South’s President
Moon Jae-in said, debunking rumours of his death.
Rumours about Kim’s health
were triggered by his absence from some events.
The rumours started since
his conspicuous no-show at April 15 celebrations for the birthday of his
grandfather Kim Il Sung, the North’s founder — the most important day in the
country’s political calendar.
“Our government position is
firm,” said Moon’s special adviser on national security Moon Chung-in, in an
interview with CNN on Sunday.
“Kim Jong Un is alive and
well.”
The adviser said that Kim
had been staying in Wonsan — a resort town in the country’s east — since April
13, adding: “No suspicious movements have so far been detected.”
Kim has not made a public
appearance since presiding over a Workers’ Party politburo meeting on April 11,
and the following day state media reported on him inspecting fighter jets at an
air defence unit.
His absence unleashed a
series of unconfirmed media reports over his condition, which officials in
Seoul previously poured cold water on.
“We have nothing to confirm
and no special movement has been detected inside North Korea as of now,” the
South’s presidential office said in a statement last week.
South Korea’s unification
minister Kim Yeon-chul reiterated Monday that remained the case, adding the
“confident” conclusion was drawn from “a complex process of intelligence
gathering and assessment”.
The comments came two years
after Kim and Moon’s first summit in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the
peninsula.
Seoul marked this
anniversary with a ceremony at the South’s northernmost train station, seeking
to highlight its commitment to a cross-border railway project.
But inter-Korean relations
are largely frozen with talks between Washington and Pyongyang at a standstill,
and there was no indication of any commemoration in the North.
Daily NK, an online media
outlet run mostly by North Korean defectors, has reported Kim was undergoing
treatment after a cardiovascular procedure earlier this month.
Citing an unidentified
source inside the country, it said Kim, who is in his mid-30s, had needed
urgent treatment due to heavy smoking, obesity and fatigue.
Soon afterwards, CNN
reported that Washington was “monitoring intelligence” that Kim was in “grave
danger” after undergoing surgery, quoting what it said was an anonymous US
official.
US President Donald Trump
on Thursday rejected reports that Kim was ailing but declined to state when he
was last in touch with him.
On Monday, the official
Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported that Kim had sent a message of thanks to
workers on the giant Wonsan Kalma coastal tourism project.
It was the latest in a
series of reports in recent days of statements issued or actions taken in Kim’s
name, although none has carried any picture of him.
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