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WASHINGTON: The shootings by North Korea across its border with South Korea were likely “accidental,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday (May 3) as speculation continues about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s health.
North and South Korea exchanged fire around a rural guard post on Saturday, adding to the tension a day after North Korean state media showed Kim visiting a factory, the first report of him making a public appearance since April 11.
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South Korea responded to the shooting from the other side of the DMZ, but no victims were reported.
READ: North and South Korea exchange shots across the border at the guard post
“We believe they are accidental. The South Koreans did respond. As far as we know, there was no loss of life on either side,” Pompeo said on ABC this week.
Pompeo declined to discuss whether he knows if Kim has been seriously ill in recent weeks, fueling speculation when Kim missed a celebration of his late grandfather, but said based on video footage of him on state television in a recent event. “It seems President Kim is alive and well.”
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READ: Trump says he is ‘happy’ that Kim Jong Un ‘is back, and well’
“We know that there have been other long periods in which President Kim has also been out of public view, so it is unprecedented,” Pompeo said.
