South Korea has confirmed that Kim Jong-un is “alive and well” after online rumors regarding the North Korean leader’s death surfaced over the weekend. Juthy Saha reports.
Questions were raised about Kim’s well-being after he missed the celebration of his grandfather’s birthday on April 15, creating online speculation that Kim was seriously ill after undergoing heart surgery, with teports saying that he had been last seen on 11 April while presiding over a Korea Workers’ party politburo meeting.
“Our government position is firm,” Moon Chung-in, the top foreign policy adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, told CNN. “Kim Jong Un is alive and well”.
They added: “Kim had been staying in the Wonsan area since 13 April. No suspicious movements have so far been detected.”
An online newspaper based in South Korea that focuses on North Korea reported that the North Korean leader had undergone a cardiovascular procedure because of “excessive smoking, obesity, and overwork.” It added that the leader is now receiving treatment in a villa in Hyangsan County.
After assessing that Kim’s condition had improved, most of the medical team treating him returned to Pyongyang on April 19 while some of them remained to oversee his recovery, according to the news site.
In late 2014 Kim also dropped out of sight and reappeared more than five weeks later using a walking stick. Days later, South Korea’s spy agency said he had undergone surgery to remove a cyst from his ankle.
The US president, Donald Trump, on Thursday rejected reports that Kim was ailing but declined to state when he was last in contact with him.
His absence has unleashed a series of unconfirmed media reports over his condition, but officials in Seoul and Beijing have insisted that there is nothing to suggest Kim is unwell.
South Korean officials are calling for caution amid reports that Mr. Kim may be ill or is being isolated because of Corona-Virus concerns.
