North Korea Releases New Photos of Kim Jong Un After Unverified Death Rumors Spread Online

North Korea’s state media released a new set of photographs on Monday showing Kim Jong Un touring a garment and footwear exhibition, an apparent reply to unverified claims that the North Korean leader had died.

The Korean Central News Agency said Kim “looked round the venue of the garment and footwear exhibition of the field of light industry” on Monday, according to the New York Post. The photographs show him inspecting children’s shoes and women’s clothing, and one image shows him accompanied by his daughter, Ju-ae. The images have not been independently authenticated, and it is not clear exactly when they were taken.

How the rumors started

The claims began with a series of posts on X on Sunday from Wanjun Xie, a U.S.-based Chinese dissident associated with the China Democracy Party. Xie wrote that Kim had suffered a severe cerebral hemorrhage, fallen into a coma and died after being transferred to Beijing, where doctors could not save him. He also claimed that China had dispatched 9,000 troops to Pyongyang amid fears of a succession crisis, and that a team of specialists from Beijing’s Peking Union Medical College Hospital had been sent to North Korea on Saturday to treat the leader.

None of those claims came with medical records, photographs, identifiable witnesses or other evidence that could be checked independently. The posts spread quickly across social media and were picked up by several international outlets, which treated the claims as unverified speculation. The rumors also raised questions about whether Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, had taken control of the government.

A familiar pattern

South Korean officials did not corroborate the death claims. On Sept. 30, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told lawmakers that Kim weighed about 140 kilograms (roughly 309 pounds) and faced an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease because of severe obesity. The agency added that it had detected no significant signs of ill health, pointing to reports that Kim had run up stairs during an inspection of a naval destroyer.

State media had previously reported that Kim attended the inauguration of the National Defense Revolution Museum on Oct. 11, though the account was published two days later. That appearance came before the alleged medical emergency described in the social media posts.

The episode echoes a false alarm in 2020, when Ji Seong-ho, a North Korean defector who had become a South Korean lawmaker, said he was 99% certain Kim had died after cardiovascular surgery. Kim appeared in public days later, and Ji apologized for the error.

Reporting based on coverage by the New York Post and LiveMint.