North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is 'alive and well'
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, is "alive and well", according to a top security adviser to the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in.
The adviser downplayed rumours over Mr Kim's health following his absence from a key anniversary.
"Our government position is firm," said Mr 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 Mr Kim had been staying in Wonsan, a resort town in the east of North Korea, since April 13, adding: "No suspicious movements have so far been detected."
South Korean officials are calling for caution amid reports that Mr Kim may be ill or is being isolated because of coronavirus concerns.
At a closed-door forum on Sunday, South Korea's Unification Minister, Kim Yeon-chul, who oversees engagement with the North, said the government had the intelligence capabilities to say with confidence that there was no indication of anything unusual.
Rumours and speculation about Mr Kim's health have 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.
Mr 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 unleashed a series of unconfirmed media reports over his condition, which officials in Seoul 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.
South Korea's unification minister said that remained the case, adding that the "confident" conclusion was drawn from "a complex process of intelligence gathering and assessment".
Daily NK, an online media outlet run mostly by North Korean defectors, had reported that Mr Kim was undergoing treatment after a cardiovascular procedure earlier this month.
Citing an unidentified source inside the country, it said the leader, who is in his mid-30s, had needed urgent treatment due to his heavy smoking, obesity and fatigue.
Soon afterwards, CNN reported that Washington was "monitoring intelligence" that Mr Kim was in "grave danger" after undergoing surgery, quoting an anonymous US official.
South Korea's unification minister cast doubt on the report of surgery, arguing that the hospital mentioned did not have the capabilities for such an operation.
Nevertheless, Yoon Sang-hyun, the chairman of the foreign and unification committee in South Korea's National Assembly, told a gathering of experts on Monday that Mr Kim'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," Mr Yoon said.
North Korea has said it has no confirmed cases of coronavirus, but some international experts have cast doubts on that claim.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday rejected reports that Mr Kim was ailing, but declined to state when he was last in touch with him.
On Monday, the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported that Mr 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 the leader's name, although none has carried any pictures of him.
Satellite images reviewed by 38North, a US-based think tank, showed a train probably belonging to Mr 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 eastern coast.
Reporting from inside the isolated North is notoriously difficult, especially on anything to do with its leadership – among its most closely guarded secrets.
Previous absences from the public eye of Mr Kim have prompted speculation about his health. In 2014, he dropped out of sight for nearly six weeks before reappearing using a walking cane. Days later, the South's spy agency said he had undergone surgery to remove a cyst from his ankle.
