North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared with his wife and daughter at a major clothing and footwear industry exhibition. The appearance provided a practical and decisive rebuttal to a series of widespread rumors circulated by British and Western media claiming that he had suffered a brain hemorrhage and died in a hospital in China.
Kim’s appearance came after The Sun and a number of British media outlets reported in recent days, citing the vague rumors of a Chinese activist, that the North Korean leader’s health was in extremely critical condition and that, due to a lack of adequate medical facilities in his country, he had been urgently transferred to Union Medical Hospital in Beijing. The rumors had even gone so far as to claim that he had fallen into a coma, died, and that his body had been secretly returned, along with the claim that Beijing had sent around 9,000 soldiers to Pyongyang to transfer power to his daughter, “Kim Ju Ae,” without a civil war breaking out.
However, the North Korean state news agency refuted all these reports and rumors by publishing images and video of Kim Jong Un’s visit today, Tuesday, showing him in good health and touring the exhibition’s products alongside his wife, “Ri Sol Ju,” and his daughter. More than 70,700 clothing items in 30 different categories, along with more than 170,000 pairs of shoes in 60 diverse styles, all produced by domestic factories, were displayed at the exhibition.
During remarks, the North Korean leader expressed satisfaction with the rapid progress of production and stressed that these achievements were clear evidence of the correctness and dynamism of the ruling party’s policies aimed at eliminating the gap between cities and outlying areas. The initiative is part of a strategy Kim announced in 2024 to build new factories in 20 townships each year for 10 years, with the aim of upgrading the infrastructure for citizens’ self-sufficiency throughout the country.
