North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, who vanished from public view for the last three weeks and was rumored to be critically sick or even dead, resurfaced in public Friday, North Korean state media reported.
The Korean Central News Agency said Kim attended the completion of a fertilizer plant.
“Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and supreme commander of the armed forces of the DPRK, attended the ceremony,” the North Korean news agency said.
State media released images of Kim it said were taken at Friday’s event, including one showing him cutting a ribbon.
The agency said he received “thunderous cheers.”
Yonhap, a South Korean news outlet, also reported Kim attended a ceremony for the plant opening in the North Korean city of Suncheon.
The mysterious leader of the secretive, rogue nation hadn’t appeared in public since April 11, one day before he reportedly had a cardiovascular procedure.
A flurry of contradictory news reports have carried a range of explanations for Kim’s absence, and rumors that he died grew louder with each passing day without a public appearance.
Kim, believed to be 36, is overweight and reportedly a heavy smoker.
When asked Friday about Kim, President Donald Trump said, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Kim has led North Korea since 2011, when his father, Kim Jong Il, died.
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