North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly made his first public appearance in two weeks on Friday by attending the completion ceremony of a fertilizer plant in the central southeastern town of Suncheon, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap and the North Korean state-run news agency KCNA.
Pictures of the event show the 36-year-old cutting a ribbon for the plant. KCNA reported that attendees “broke into thunderous cheers of hurrahs” when he made his appearance. Kim expressed praised the factory’s contribution to the country’s food and chemical industries, the North Korean news agency added.
“[Kim] warmly acknowledged the builders and masses raising thunderous cheers” the agency continued, reporting that he then toured the factory alongside senior officials from the ruling Workers’ Party and his only sister, Kim Yo Jong. The full details provided in KCNA’s report haven’t yet been verified by Yonhap or any other outside media outlets.
The fertilizer plant may be connected to the nation’s covert nuclear ambitions. Margaret Croy, a researcher of East Asian nuclear proliferation told Newsweek that a recent study suggested that the country’s fertilizer factories could help it produce nuclear material by extracting uranium from phosphoric acids.
Kim has accelerated his country’s nuclear efforts while also emphasizing other economic and infrastructural developments since becoming national leader in 2011.”I’d rather not comment on it yet,” U.S President Donald Trump responded at the Friday White House briefing when reporters asked about Kim’s health. “We’ll have something to say about it at the appropriate time.”
Kim’s appearance on Friday follows a two-week period of public speculation and rumors about his health following an April 20 rumor, sparked by an anonymous source featured in the South Korea-based media outlet Daily NK, stating that he was in ill health after undergoing heart surgery on April 12.
