Kim Jong-un, the top leader of North Korea who was recently swept up in unverified rumors of his death, has made a public appearance by guiding a large-scale military event over two days. The state media report on Kim’s recent public activities came just a day after the National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported to the National Assembly that the death rumors were completely false.

On the 24th, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Kim guided the 3rd Company Commanders' Conference of the Korean People's Army held in Pyongyang from the 22nd to the 23rd. In a speech themed "The Construction of a Powerful Army of the New Era and the Duties of Company Commanders," Kim called for fostering "the strongest companies to build the strongest military," while urging officials to "continually improve company management and soldiers' lives amidst iron-clad military discipline." The company is the basic combat unit and living base for North Korean soldiers. Kim's guidance of the company commanders' conference is interpreted as a move to tighten internal discipline and boost combat power starting from the foundational units of the military.

Top military officials attended the conference, including Pak Jong-chon, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea; Defense Minister Kang Sun-nam (Kim Sung-gi); and Ri Yong-gil, Chief of the General Staff of the Army. This marks only the third time North Korean state media has reported on a company commanders' conference, following previous instances in November 1991 and February 1999.

Recently, unverified claims asserting that Kim had died spread rapidly across overseas social media. The rumor originated from a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Xie Wanjun, a U.S.-based Chinese dissident. Claiming to be the leader of the Chinese Democracy Party, he asserted that Kim had collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage, received treatment from medical staff at Beijing Union Medical College Hospital after being moved to Beijing, and subsequently died. He also added claims that China had dispatched thousands of troops to Pyongyang in preparation for a power succession to Kim Ju-ae.

Although no concrete evidence was provided, British media outlet The Sun, the American newspaper New York Post, and India's The Economic Times picked up the story, accelerating the spread of the death rumors. South Korean diplomatic and security officials maintained that there was no intelligence to support the rumors. The NIS also reportedly briefed ruling and opposition lawmakers on the National Intelligence Committee on the 23rd, stating that the death rumors were false. Furthermore, while the rumors were circulating on the 20th, North Korea released photos of Kim visiting an exhibition of the light industry sector in Pyongyang alongside his daughter, Ju-ae.

Rumors surrounding the death of North Korea's supreme leaders are not unprecedented. In November 1986, rumors circulated that founding leader Kim Il-sung had been assassinated, but he soon reappeared in public. In September 1988, rumors of Kim Jong-il's death arose after he failed to attend the 60th-anniversary celebration of the regime's founding. It was later known that he was suffering from a stroke at the time, but he maintained his grip on power for over three more years.

Kim Jong-un himself vanished from public activities for about 40 days between September and October 2014, reappearing with a cane. In April 2020, speculation about his grave illness flared up after he missed the commemoration of Kim Il-sung's birthday (Day of the Sun) and remained out of the public eye for about three weeks. At the time, then-lawmaker-elects Thae Yong-ho and Ji Seong-ho raised health abnormality rumors, but Kim reappeared in early May to attend the completion ceremony of the Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory.

[ⓒ Global Economic Times. 무단전재-재배포 금지]