North Korean media has released "proof of life" photographs of Kim Jong Un after widespread speculation that the dictator had succumbed to a brain haemorrhage. The images, issued by North Korea on Monday, show Kim examining children's footwear and women's coats at a garment and footwear exhibition.
The publication came just hours after unverified claims spread online that the 42-year-old leader had lapsed into a coma and died after being transported to Beijing for urgent medical care.
State media reports exhibition visit
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency reports that Kim visited the exhibition on Monday. The images have not been independently verified, and it remains uncertain precisely when they were captured.
Claims from a US-based dissident
The photographs emerged after Wanjun Xie, a US-based Chinese dissident linked to the China Democracy Party, asserted on X on Sunday that Kim had died. Xie maintained in the post that Kim had passed away and that China had deployed 9,000 troops to Pyongyang.
He additionally alleged that a team of specialists from Beijing's Peking Union Medical College Hospital had been dispatched to North Korea on Saturday to treat Kim following a severe haemorrhage. Xie went on to state that Kim fell into a coma before being transported to Beijing and that doctors were unable to save him.
Verification remains unclear
The claims circulated online without verification, and the timing of the photographs released by North Korean state media has not been independently confirmed.
