North Korea’s Kim Jong Un Emerges From Almost Three-Week Absence
Kim quells health speculation, visits factory with sister
Trump says he ‘may’ talk to North Korean leader this weekend
Kim Jong Un ended his almost three-week absence from public events with a factory visit, an appearance that will ease, but not end, concern about the stability of the North Korean regime and control of its nuclear arsenal.
Kim Jong Un presided over a May Day ceremony to mark the completion of the Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory northeast of the capital Pyongyang, the official Korean Central News Agency reported early Saturday. State media released photos showing the North Korean leader in a black Mao suit cutting a ribbon outside the facility, which non-proliferation experts say could be used to help produce fissile material for nuclear bombs.
U.S. President Donald Trump declined to comment on Kim’s reemergence besides telling reporters before heading to Camp David for the weekend that he “may” speak with the North Korean leader. “We’ll have something to say about it at the appropriate time,” Trump said.
Kim Jong-un; (born 8 January 1984) is a North Korean politician who has been the supreme leader of North Korea since 2011 and leader of the Workers’ Party of Korea since 2012. He is the second child of Kim Jong-il (1941–2011), who was North Korea’s second Supreme Leader from 1994 to 2011, and Ko Yong-hui (1952–2004). He is the grandson of Kim Il-sung, who was the founder and first Supreme Leader of North Korea from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994.