North Korea leader Kim Jong Un is ‘alive and well’

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is “alive and well”, a top security adviser to the South’s President Moon Jae-in said, downplaying rumours over Kim’s health following his absence from a key anniversary.

“Our government position is firm,” said Moon’s special adviser on national security Moon Chung-in, in an interview 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.”

There have been growing doubts about Kim’s health since his absence from the April 15 celebrations for the birthday of his grandfather Kim Il Sung, the most important day in the country’s political calendar.

Kim has not made a public appearance since presiding over a Workers’ Party meeting on April 11, and the following day state media reported him inspecting fighter jets at an air defence unit. His absence has unleashed a series of unconfirmed media reports over his condition.

“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.

An online media outlet run mostly by North Korean defectors, has reported Kim was recovering after undergoing 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, US media reported that Washington was “monitoring intelligence” that Kim was in “grave danger” after undergoing surgery. US President Donald Trump has rejected reports that Kim was ailing but declined to state when he was last in touch with him.

On Monday, the official newspaper in North Korea reported that Kim had sent a message of thanks to workers on the 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 pictures of him.

Satellite images reviewed by 38North, a US-based think tank, showed a train probably belonging to Kim at a station in Wonsan last week. It cautioned that the train’s presence did not indicate anything about his health but that he was staying on the country’s eastern coast.