North Korea has shared fresh images of dictator Kim Jong Un attending a garment and footwear exhibition, following unverified social media claims about his death from a brain haemorrhage. The apparent "proof of life" appeared in the North Korean official newspaper Rodong Sinmun just hours after popular anti-Chinese Communist Party leaders, without evidence, claimed that the 42-year-old leader had died or fallen into a coma and was being rushed to a hospital in Beijing, China.
In one photo, Kim can be seen leaning forward to inspect a tiny pink shoe held by a woman wearing a pale pink dress. In another image, the North Korean strongman can be seen standing with his arms outstretched and his mouth open as he appears to speak with an official.
Photo Credit: AFP
A third showed him reaching toward the sleeve of a rust-coloured women's coat displayed on a mannequin, while several aides trailed behind him.
Photo Credit: AFP
The proof of the apparent public appearance came after Wanjun Xie, a US-based Chinese dissident associated with the China Democracy Party, posted a series of explosive allegations on X.
Wanjun initially claimed that the dictator was dead and Beijing had dispatched 9,000 troops to Pyongyang amid fears of a succession crisis. He later alleged that a team of doctors from Beijing's Peking Union Medical College Hospital had been sent to North Korea to treat Kim following a severe cerebral haemorrhage.
According to Wanjun's account, the North Korean leader slipped into a coma before being transferred to Beijing, where doctors were unable to save him.
He claimed the North Korean leader's body has been secretly returned to North Korea. None of the allegations was accompanied by proof, witnesses or other independently verifiable evidence.
The rumours nevertheless gained traction, raising questions about whether Kim's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, had taken control of the secretive regime.
The latest speculation echoes a false alarm in 2020, when Ji Seong-ho, a North Korean defector who later became a South Korean lawmaker, claimed he was "99 per cent" certain Kim had died following cardiovascular surgery. Kim subsequently appeared in public, and Ji apologised for making the erroneous claim.