North Korea has issued ‘proof of life’ images of dictator Kim Jong Un to counter unverified online rumors that he had suffered a brain haemorrhage, fallen into a coma, and died.
The photographs, released yesterday, appear to show the North Korean leader, 42, and his 13-year-old daughter Kim Ju Ae inspecting a clothing and footwear exhibition hall in the capital Pyongyang.
The speculation spread after Chinese dissident Xie Wanjun claimed, without evidence, that the General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea had suffered ‘a severe cerebral haemorrhage and fell into a coma’.
Wanjun, the US-based chairman of the China Democracy Party, claimed that Kim was taken to a Beijing hospital, where he died.
He wrote on X yesterday: ‘His body has been secretly transported back to North Korea, and the news of his death is being kept under wraps.’
North Korea’s state news agency then released images of the autocrat and his daughter at the clothing exhibition.
It claimed the pictures were taken yesterday but this has not been independently verified.
In one photo, Kim was seen inspecting a pink shoe as officials watched on.
Another showed him looking at several rolls of fabric as an official spoke to him.
And in a third picture, he was seen feeling the fabric of a woman’s coat that was draped over a mannequin as aides followed behind him.
South Korean diplomats and spies are said to have heard ‘nothing’ to support the claims of Kim’s death.
