President Donald Trump said Thursday that a recent U.S. media report implying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could be seriously ill was likely to be "incorrect," while declining to answer whether he reached out to officials there.

"I think the report was incorrect, let me just put it that way...I'm hearing they used old documents," Trump said at a press conference, referring to a report on Monday by CNN that the United States is monitoring intelligence that Kim's life is in grave danger after surgery.

Trump reiterated that he has a "good relationship" with the North Korean leader, whom he met three times in 2018 and 2019 in an effort to rid the country of its nuclear weapons. But when asked whether he had made any contact to the North Korean side, the president said, "I won't say that."


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"I hope he's OK. And I think it was a fake report done by CNN," the president added.

The CNN report attracted worldwide attention as questions have been emerging about Kim's well-being after he was absent from public view on last week's anniversary of the birth of his grandfather and the nation's founder, Kim Il Sung.

South Korea has disputed the report, saying there is no sign his health has deteriorated.

Kim, now in his late 30s, became North Korea's leader following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in December 2011.

North Korea had reported every year on Kim Jong Un's visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun mausoleum complex in Pyongyang on the key anniversary. But the state-run media did not mention the leader's visit this year.