![\"\"](\"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/kim_jong-300x200.jpg\")
International Desk: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is \u201calive and well\u201d, a top security adviser to the South\u2019s President Moon Jae-in said, downplaying rumours over Kim\u2019s health following his absence from a key anniversary.<\/p>\nInternational Desk: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is \u201calive and well\u201d, a top security adviser to the South\u2019s President Moon Jae-in said, downplaying rumours over Kim\u2019s health following his absence from a key anniversary.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur government position is firm,\u201d said Moon\u2019s special adviser on national security Moon Chung-in, in an interview with CNN on Sunday. \u201cKim Jong Un is alive and well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The adviser said that Kim had been staying in Wonsan \u2014 a resort town in the country\u2019s east \u2014 since April 13, adding: \u201cNo suspicious movements have so far been detected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conjecture about Kim\u2019s health has grown since his conspicuous absence from the April 15 celebrations for the birthday of his grandfather Kim Il Sung, the North\u2019s founder \u2014 the most important day in the country\u2019s political calendar.<\/p>\n
Kim has not made a public appearance since presiding over a Workers\u2019 Party politburo meeting on April 11, and the following day state media reported him inspecting fighter jets at an air defence unit.<\/p>\n
His absence unleashed a series of unconfirmed media reports over his condition, which officials in Seoul previously poured cold water on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have nothing to confirm and no special movement has been detected inside North Korea as of now,\u201d the South\u2019s presidential office said in a statement last week.<\/p>\n
South Korea\u2019s unification minister Kim Yeon-chul reiterated Monday that remained the case, adding the \u201cconfident\u201d conclusion was drawn from \u201ca complex process of intelligence gathering and assessment\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018Grave danger\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
Daily NK, an online media outlet run mostly by North Korean defectors, has reported Kim was undergoing treatment after a cardiovascular procedure earlier this month.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Soon afterwards, CNN reported that Washington was \u201cmonitoring intelligence\u201d that Kim was in \u201cgrave danger\u201d after undergoing surgery, quoting what it said was an anonymous US official.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump on Thursday rejected reports that Kim was ailing but declined to state when he was last in touch with him.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
It was the latest in a series of reports in recent days of statements issued or actions taken in Kim\u2019s name, although none has carried any pictures of him.<\/p>\n
Satellite images reviewed by 38North, a US-based think tank, showed a train probably belonging to Kim at a station in Wonsan last week.<\/p>\n
It cautioned that the train\u2019s presence did not \u201cindicate anything about his health\u201d but did \u201clend weight\u201d to reports he was staying on the country\u2019s eastern coast.<\/p>\n
Reporting from inside the isolated North is notoriously difficult, especially regarding anything to do with its leadership, which is among its most closely guarded secrets.<\/p>\n
Previous absences from the public eye on Kim\u2019s part have prompted speculation about his health.<\/p>\n
In 2014 he dropped out of sight for nearly six weeks before reappearing with a cane. Days later, the South\u2019s spy agency said he had undergone surgery to remove a cyst from his ankle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International Desk: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is \u201calive and well\u201d, a top security adviser to the South\u2019s President Moon Jae-in said, downplaying rumours over Kim\u2019s health following his absence from a key anniversary. \u201cOur government position is firm,\u201d said Moon\u2019s special adviser on national security Moon Chung-in, in an interview with CNN on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":58771,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n