North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attending a politburo meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang on April 11, the last time he was seen in public. Photo: EPA-EFE
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https://scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3081648/kim-jong-un-alive-and-well-and-staying-wonsan-says-top-south East Asia
Kim Jong-un is ‘alive and well’ and staying in Wonsan, says top South Korean official
- Speculation about the North Korean leader’s health has intensified over the past week amid reports he’d had heart surgery and was in ‘grave danger’
- On Monday, a North Korean newspaper reported that Kim had sent a message of thanks to workers, but it carried no pictures of him
South Korean people watch a TV broadcasting a news report on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, amid widespread speculation about his health. Photo: Reuters
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 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.”
At a closed door forum on Sunday, South Korea’s Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, who oversees engagement with the North, said the government has the intelligence capabilities to say with confidence that there was nothing unusual happening.
Still, Yoon Sang-hyun, chairman of the foreign and unification committee in South Korea’s National Assembly, told a gathering of experts on Monday that Kim Jong-un’s absence from the public eye suggests “he has not been working as normally”.
“There has not been any report showing he’s making policy decisions as usual since April 11, which leads us to assume that he is either sick or being isolated because of coronavirus concerns,” Yoon said.
North Korea has said it has no confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, but some international experts have cast doubts on that claim.
A spokeswoman for the Unification Ministry said on Monday she had nothing to confirm when asked about reports that Kim was in Wonsan.
Conjecture about Kim’s health has grown since his conspicuous absence from the 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.
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 him inspecting fighter jets at an air defence unit.
His absence has 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.
Daily NK, 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, 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.
Officials with the US National Security Council declined to comment over the weekend.
Unification minister Kim cast doubt on the report of surgery, arguing that the hospital mentioned did not have the capabilities for such an operation.
China sent a team including doctors and senior diplomats to advise its neighbour and long-time ally, Reuters reported on Saturday, citing three people familiar with the matter.
A delegation led by a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department – which manages relations with North Korea – departed Beijing on Thursday, although it was not clear what the trip signalled about Kim’s health.
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 pictures of him.
This satellite image shows the resort town of Wonsan. A train likely belonging to Kim Jong-un has been spotted at the railway station. Photo: AFP
Satellite images reviewed by 38 North, 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 did “lend weight” to reports he was staying on the country’s eastern coast, and potentially fits with the South Korean account.
Wonsan, about 230km east of Pyongyang, has received intense interest from Kim in recent years, hosting an expanding leadership compound, a large tourism development project and numerous weapons tests.
The train, which Kim took to his failed summit with Trump in Hanoi, arrived at a nearby railway station on or before April 21, 38 North wrote, citing satellite imagery. The train was spotted again at the station on April 23, and appeared to be repositioned for departure.
Reporting from inside the isolated North is notoriously difficult, especially on anything to do with its leadership, which is among its most closely guarded secrets.
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.
Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, has been touted as a possible successor. Photo: Reuters
The episode renews long-standing questions about the stability of a regime built on iron-fisted authority and a cult of personality for Kim, who has no known successor.
Any leadership change in North Korea could increase the threat of instability on China’s border and raise questions about control of the country’s expanding nuclear arsenal. Kim has also been central to Trump’s so far unsuccessful efforts to get him to reduce his weapons stockpile.
The mystery sent journalists, diplomats and non-proliferation experts scouring satellite images, state news outlets and unverified social media feeds for clues about Kim. The hashtag #kimjongundead was the among the top subjects trending globally Saturday on Twitter. The name of his younger sister Kim Yo-jong – a potential successor – was also trending in the US.
“Information about the serious state of health of our Marshal Kim Jong-un is false and malicious,” Korean Friendship Association head Alejandro Cao de Benos said in a tweet on Saturday.
Cao, who was featured in the 2015 documentary The Propaganda Game” did not say where he got the information and declined further comment when contacted by Bloomberg News.
Additional reporting by Reuters