South Korea downplayed reports on Tuesday (April 21) that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had recently been operated on. "We have nothing to confirm and no particular movement has been detected in North Korea," a spokesman for the South Korean presidency said in a statement.

Daily NK, an online media outlet run mostly by defected North Koreans, said Kim Jong-un had been operated on in April for cardiovascular problems, and was recovering from a villa in the province from North Phyongan.

"The reason for Kim's urgent cardiovascular treatment was excessive smoking, obesity and fatigue," said Daily NK, citing an unidentified North Korean source. This information has not been confirmed. But it sparked a flood of speculation.

Credibility of the information questioned

North Korea celebrated the 108th anniversary of the birth of the regime's founder, Kim Il-sung, who is the grandfather of the current leader, on April 15. This date is by far the most important on the political calendar in the North. But Kim Jong-un was not seen in any of the photographs released by the official press.

Quoting an American official, CNN for its part reports that Washington "is studying information" according to which Kim Jong-un is "in serious danger after a surgical operation", without saying whether this "information" is in fact the article by Daily NK .

Some South Korean officials have expressed doubts about the credibility of the Daily NK reports. The coverage of North Korean news is particularly complicated, especially for everything related to the private life of Kim Jong-un, who is one of the regime's best kept secrets.

Caution

The South Korean Ministry of Unification, which manages inter-Korean issues, and the Ministry of Defense declined to comment. Moon Chung-in, security adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, told AFP that he had heard nothing special about the health of the North Korean leader

The last time the North Korean media reported on Kim Jong-un's activities dates back to April 12. And this is not the first time that its "absence" has fueled all kinds of speculation.

Some experts therefore called for the utmost caution. "There is no confirmation at this stage and it is too early to draw conclusions about his state of health," said Ahn Chan-il, a northern defector who became a researcher in Seoul. He noted that an operation on the heart involved state-of-the-art medical equipment which is "only found in Pyongyang establishments". It would be "unreasonable" to transport it elsewhere for the operation.

With AFP

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