North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made a public appearance for the first time in 20 days, state-run media reported Saturday, putting to rest fervent speculation about his health that swirled during his absence from the public eye.
Kim attended a ceremony to mark the completion of a fertilizer factory on Friday, the official Korean Central News Agency said.
"Amid the welcome music, Kim Jong Un came out to the ceremony. All the participants broke into thunderous cheers of 'hurrah!'" the news agency said. "He cut a ribbon for the completion of the factory."
[KCNA/Kyodo]
Later in the day, KCNA released photos showing Kim cutting the large red ribbon in a ceremony at the factory located in Sunchon, near Pyongyang, while Korean Central Television broadcast footage of him smoking while sitting inside a room.
The airing of the footage was apparently aimed at dispelling rumors of his possible demise and proving to the international community that he is in good health.
In Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump declined to comment on the North Korean report.
"I'd rather not comment on it yet," he told reporters at the White House. "We'll have something to say about it at the appropriate time."
On Monday, the U.S. president told a press conference at the White House that he had "a very good idea" of Kim's health condition but "can't talk about it now."
The news agency said Kim Yo Jong, the leader's sister and first vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, also participated in the ceremony.
Kim Jong Un's movements had not been reported in state-run media since April 12, when KCNA said he presided over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the ruling party held the day before.
On April 14, South Korea said the North on the same day fired several projectiles that appeared to be short-range cruise missiles into the Sea of Japan from an area near the coastal town of Munchon in Kangwon Province.
North Korea's official media, however, did not report the missile launch, raising doubts about Kim's health.
He also missed the celebration of the birth of his late grandfather and the nation's founder, Kim Il Sung, on April 15, one of the most important holidays in the country.
In late April, CNN reported the United States was monitoring intelligence that Kim was in "grave danger" after undergoing surgery, while South Korea maintained that no unusual signs were detected in Pyongyang.
On Sunday, meanwhile, Moon Chung In, the top foreign policy adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae In, told U.S. media that Kim is well and had been staying in Wonsan, the capital of Kangwon Province, since April 13.
The U.S.-based website 38 North, which monitors North Korea, said satellite imagery showed that a train probably belonging to Kim was in Wonsan late last month.
In 2014, Kim was absent from public view for around 40 days, leading foreign affairs experts to speculate that he was suffering health problems.
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