North Korea state media silent on Kim's health or whereabouts

Seoul

NORTH Korean state media on Wednesday made no mention of leader Kim Jong-un's health or whereabouts, a day after intense international speculation over his health was sparked by media reports he was gravely ill after a cardiovascular procedure.

North Korean media presented a business-as-usual image, carrying routine reporting of Mr Kim's achievements and publishing some of his older, or undated, comments on issues like the economy.

South Korean and Chinese officials and sources familiar with US intelligence have cast doubt on South Korean and US media reports that he was seriously sick, while the White House said it was closely monitoring the matter.

US President Donald Trump said that the reports had not been confirmed and he did not put much credence in them. "We'll see how he does," Mr Trump told a White House news conference on Tuesday. "We don't know if the reports are true."

Speculation about Mr Kim's health first arose due to his absence from the anniversary of the birthday of North Korea's founding father and Mr Kim's grandfather, Kim Il Sung, on April 15.

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On Wednesday, the main headlines from the North's state news agency, KCNA, included pieces on sports equipment, mulberry picking, and a meeting in Bangladesh to study North Korea's juche or self-reliance ideology.

The official Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried older or undated remarks attributed to Mr Kim in articles about the economy, the textile industry, city development, and other topics. As usual Mr Kim's name was plastered all over the newspaper, but there were no reports on his whereabouts.

A spokesman for South Korea's presidential Blue House said they could not confirm Mr Kim's whereabouts, or whether he had undergone surgery. South Korea had detected no unusual activity in North Korea, the spokesman said.

Daily NK, a Seoul-based website, reported late on Monday that Mr Kim, who is believed to be about 36, was hospitalised on April 12, hours before the cardiovascular procedure.

The report's English-language version carried a correction on Tuesday to say the report was based on a single unnamed source in North Korea, not multiple as it earlier stated.

It said his health had deteriorated since August due to heavy smoking, obesity and overwork, and he was now receiving treatment at a villa in the Mount Myohyang resort north of the capital Pyongyang.

"It does look like something is going on, based on the repeated absences of last week," said Chad O'Carroll, CEO of the Korea Risk Group, which monitors North Korea.

North Korea experts have cautioned that hard facts about Mr Kim's condition are elusive but said that his unprecedented absence from major celebrations for his grandfather's birthday last week signals that something may have gone awry.

Thae Yong-ho, a former North Korean deputy ambassador to Britain who defected to South Korea in 2016, said that state media's extended silence is unusual because it had in the past been quick to dispel questions about the status of its leadership.

"Every time there is controversy about (Kim), North Korea would take action within days to show he is alive and well," he noted. His absence from the April 15 anniversary ceremony, in particular, was "unprecedented", Mr Thae added. REUTERS