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IT’S LIVE: South Korean media reports that Kim Jong-un has appeared publicly for the first time in 20 days. Here he speaks on March 17 of this year. Photo: KCNA / KCNA
Kim Jong-un has appeared in public for the first time in 20 days, reports South Korean news agency Yonhap.
According to the news agency, he attended a ceremony to commemorate the completion of the Sunchon Phosphate Plant, a fertilizer plant, in Pyongan province, North Korea.
North Korea’s state news agency KCNA has not yet released images, but writes that Kim Jong-un received massive applause while cutting the ribbon marking the factory opening, Yonhap writes.
There have been rumors that the North Korean leader was seriously ill or dead. CNN reported earlier this week Kim’s condition was critical after cardiac surgery.
– This is interesting information. I also thought it was probably a planned absence, either for medical treatment or something else. There are some precedents for this; He was away from the public for a period last year and for four weeks in 2014, Vladimir Tikhonov, professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, tells VG.
He believes the message from the South Korean news agency is credible.
North Korea leader Kim Jong-un’s health speculation began when he did not attend the birthday of his late grandfather, North Korean founder Kim Il-sung, on April 15.
– Why did North Korea leave these rumors for so long, do you think?
All of these speculations in the foreign media mean nothing to ordinary North Koreans – they don’t get it. Therefore, the leader is not weakened internally in his own country by this, says Tikhonov.
Korean expert on rumors: – It’s an exaggerated rumor game
That Jong-un appeared in public during the ceremony must also have been mentioned during the morning broadcast on North Korean radio.
It has not appeared since a party meeting on April 11.
South Korean President’s chief security adviser Moon Jae-in previously stated that Kim Jong-un is “alive and well.”
United States President Donald Trump, who previously said he “knows how things are going” with the North Korean leader, will not answer questions about the country’s new messages on Friday night, Reuters writes.
– I prefer not to comment on this now. We want something to say at the right time, he tells the White House press.
VG is updating the case.
