South Korea denies rumour that Kim Jong-un is dead
The North Korean leader has missed key events.
A top South Korean official has said his country remains confident there have been no ‘unusual developments’ in North Korea, amid persistent rumours that Kim Jong-un is in poor health or even dead.
Unification minister Kim Yeon-chul said yesterday that South Korea has ‘enough intelligence to confidently say that there are no unusual developments’ in its neighbouring country.
The minister said he would not reveal specifics about the intelligence, but stressed that it had undergone a complex analysis process.
Conflicting reports about Mr Kim’s health have been swirling after he missed the commemoration of the 108th birthday of his grandfather, North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung, on April 15. Mr Kim is the third generation of his family to rule North Korea, and he had not missed the event – one of the most important in the North – since assuming power wen his father Kim Jong Il’s died in late 2011.
The unification minister’s comments reiterate previous South Korean statements that Mr Kim appeared to be handling state affairs normally and that no unusual activities had been detected.
Those earlier comments failed to dispel the speculation, which has been fed by North Korean state media silence about its leader’s whereabouts. Despite some claims on social media, there has been no official suggestion that Mr Kim has died.
Some experts have argued that issues with Mr Kim’s health could lead to instability in North Korea.
Recent satellite photos released on Saturday by 38 North – a website specialising in North Korea studies – showed that a train thought to belong to Mr Kim has been parked at his compound on the country’s east coast since last week.
The site said: ‘The train’s presence does not prove the whereabouts of the North Korean leader or indicate anything about his health, but it does lend weight to reports that Kim is staying at an elite area on the country’s eastern coast.’
The office of the South Korean president has said it has information that Mr Kim has been staying out of Pyongyang and that there had been no emergency readiness order issued by the North’s military or the ruling Workers’ Party, which would be expected if Mr Kim was in a bad condition.
On Monday, South Korean president Moon Jae-in repeated an offer to conduct some inter-Korean cooperation projects such as a joint anti-coronavirus quarantine campaign.
Mr Moon also said he will strive for mutual prosperity ‘based on confidence between Chairman Kim and me and our firm resolve to (achieve) peace’.
Today is the second anniversary of Mr Moon’s first summit with Mr Kim on the Korean border.
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