Kim makes public appearance
Rumours have been rife about health of North Korean leader
SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made his first public appearance in 20 days as he celebrated the completion of a fertilizer factory near Pyongyang, state media said today, ending an absence that had triggered global rumours that he was seriously ill.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim attended the ceremony Friday in Sunchon with other senior officials, including his sister, Kim Yo Jong, who many analysts predict would take over if her brother is suddenly unable to rule.
The official Rodong Sinmun newspaper published several photos of Kim wearing black and smiling as he looked around the factory and cut a red ribbon.
The KCNA said workers broke into “thunderous cheers” for Kim, who, it said, is guiding the nation in a struggle to build a self-reliant economy in the face of “head wind” by “hostile forces,” a clear reference to U.S.-led sanctions over the North’s nuclear ambitions.
The agency said Kim warmly acknowledged the workers and said his late father and grandfather “would be greatly pleased” the factory was completed. The report didn’t mention any direct comment toward Washington or Seoul.
U.S. President Donald Trump declined to comment about Kim’s reappearance, but said he would “have something to say about it at the appropriate time.”
It was Kim’s first public appearance since April 11, when he presided over a ruling Workers’ Party meeting to discuss the coronavirus and reappoint his sister as an alternate member of the powerful decision-making political bureau of the party’s central committee. That move confirmed her substantial role in the government.
Speculation about Kim Jong Un’s health swirled after he missed the April 15 birthday celebration for his late grandfather, Kim Il Sung, the country’s most important holiday, for the first time since taking power in 2011.
Without publishing images, state media reported he was carrying out routine activities outside public view, such as sending greetings to the leaders of Syria, Cuba and South Africa and expressing gratitude to workers building tourist facilities in the coastal town of Wonsan, where some speculated he was staying.
South Korea’s government, which has a mixed record of tracking Pyongyang’s ruling elite, repeatedly played down speculation that Kim, thought to be 36, was in poor health following surgery.
The office of President Moon Jae-in said it detected no unusual signs in North Korea nor any emergency reaction by its ruling party, military and cabinet. Seoul said it believed Kim was still managing state affairs, but staying at an unspecified location outside Pyongyang.
The possibly of high-level instability raised troubling questions about the future of the secretive, nuclear-armed state that has been steadily building an arsenal meant to threaten the U.S. mainland while diplomacy between Kim and Trump has stalled.
Following an unusually provocative run in missile and nuclear tests in 2017, Kim used the Winter Olympics in South Korea to initiate diplomacy with Washington and Seoul in 2018.
That led to a surprising series of summits, including three between Kim and Trump, as Kim pursued diplomacy in the hope of ending crippling economic sanctions and obtaining security guarantees.
But negotiations have faltered in past months over disagreements in exchanging sanctions relief and disarmament steps, which raised doubts about whether Kim would ever fully deal away an arsenal he likely sees as his strongest guarantee of survival.
Kim entered the year vowing to build up his nuclear arsenal and achieve a breakthrough against sanctions while urging his nation to stay resilient in a struggle for economic “self-reliance.” Some experts say the North’s selfimposed lockdown amid the coronavirus crisis could potentially hamper his ability to mobilize people for labour.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused Kim’s absence in past weeks.
In 2014, he vanished from the public eye for nearly six weeks, then reappeared with a cane. South Korea’s spy agency said he had a cyst removed from his ankle.
Analysts say his health could become an increasing factor in years ahead. He is overweight, smokes and drinks, and has a family history of heart trouble.