Kim Jong Un likely didn’t undergo heart surgery last month, South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers Wednesday.
The Washington Post reports that the North Korean leader's three-week hiatus from the public was likely due to fears of coronavirus, according to officials from the National Intelligence Service.
“He was normally performing his duties when he was out of the public eye,” said Kim Byung-kee of the ruling Democratic Party, detailing the intelligence reports in a news briefing.
Officials in the United States and South Korea said Kim retreated to a beach resort in Wonsan on the country’s east coast after learning in mid-April that some of his subordinates had reported they had fevers.
The officials told a parliamentary committee that reports of heart surgery were reported by South Korean website Daily NK and then spread by Western media.
A lawmaker on the intelligence committee said reports that Kim was gravely ill or dead were “groundless.”
Rumors that he died were squashed when he reappeared on state media over the weekend with footage showing him opening a fertilizer factory. Employees were all wearing masks.
Kim Byung-kee said Kim has made only 17 public appearances this year, compared with an average of 50 over the same period in previous years, which the NIS linked to a possible coronavirus outbreak in North Korea.
North Korea has vehemently denied an outbreak of the virus.
“It cannot be ruled out that there has been an outbreak in North Korea,” Kim Byung-kee said. “Kim Jong Un had focused on consolidating internal affairs such as military forces and party-state meetings, and coronavirus concerns have further limited his public activity.”
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