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
“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.