Officials in South Korea have called for caution amid reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may be ill or dead.
They emphasized that they have detected no unusual movements across the border in the North.
Read Also: North Korea’s Dictator Kim Jong-Un Reportedly Dead After Botched Heart Surgery
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.
Rumours and speculation over the North Korean leader‘s health began after he did not appear at a key state event on April 15. He has since not been seen in public.
South Korea media last week reported that Kim may have undergone cardiovascular surgery or was in isolation to avoid exposure to the novel coronavirus.
However, they did report that he had sent a message of gratitude to workers building a tourist resort in Wonsan, an area where some South Korean media reports have said Kim may be staying.
Moon Chung-in, the top foreign policy adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in stated that;
Our government’s position is firm. Kim Jong Un is alive and well. He has been staying in the Wonsan area since April 13. No suspicious movements have so far been detected.
Daily Mail had reported that satellite images shot last week showed a special train possibly belonging to Kim at Wonsan in North Korea.
38 North, a Washington-based North Korea monitoring project said the train was probably the North Korean leader’s personal train but no news agency has been able to confirm that independently, or whether Kim is in Wonsan.
A spokeswoman for the Unification Ministry said on Monday she had nothing to confirm when asked about reports that if Kim is in Wonsan.
Last week, China dispatched a team to North Korea including medical experts to advise on Kim Jong Un, according to Daily Mail.
It is however uncertain what the trip by the Chinese team signalled in terms of Kim’s health.
Experts have cautioned that Kim has disappeared from state media coverage before and that gathering accurate information in North Korea is notoriously difficult, Aljazeera reports.
Kim, who is in his 30’s, was not seen in 2014 for than a month and North Korean state TV later showed him walking with a limp.
North Korea‘s state media last reported on Kim’s whereabouts when he presided over a meeting on April 11.
