May 3, 2020 | 9:44am
A top South Korean official on Sunday said Kim Jong Un did not have surgery or any other medical procedure after a video of his first public appearance in weeks shows the North Korean leader with a strange mark on his wrist, according to a report.
A senior South Korean presidential official told reporters that the government determined that Kim did not have surgery, the Associated Press reported, noting that the presidential Blue House refused to provide how the intelligence assessment was made.
North Korea state media said the rotund leader attended the completion of a fertilizer factory near Pyongyang on Friday and released a video Saturday showing Kim cutting a red ribbon – his first public appearance in about 20 days.
The video also showed Kim with a mysterious mark on his wrist that some speculated might be a scar from a recent cardiovascular procedure.
Kim missed the commemoration of his late grandfather and North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung on April 15 and North Korea has not explained his absence – an event he hasn’t missed since taking power in 2011 after his father Kim Jong Il’s death.
