Donald Trump has denounced media speculation surrounding the health of North Korean leader Kim Jung-un and ‘wished him well’ after claims that he had fallen seriously ill after heart surgery.
President Trump, who held unprecedented summits with Kim in 2018 and 2019 in an attempt to persuade him to abandon his nuclear weapons, said the reports were unconfirmed and that he put little credence in them.
“Well, these reports that came out. We don’t know, we don’t know. I’ve had a very good relationship with him, said Mr Trump on Tuesday. “I can only say this, I wish him well because if he is in the kind of condition that the reports say, that the news is saying — that’s a very serious condition as you know but I wish him well.”
CNN reported on Tuesday that the North Korean leader was ‘in grave danger’ after surgery, citing an unnamed US official who said that the US was “monitoring intelligence”.
That came after Daily NK, a news website run by North Korean defectors, claimed on Monday that Kim had been suffering after cardiovascular surgery.
While North Korea experts have cautioned against speculation, Kim’s unexpected absence from the celebration of his grandfather’s birthday on 15 April aided doubts about the leader’s condition. He was last seen in state media on April 12.
US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien told Fox News on Tuesday that the US was “keeping a close eye” on the situation. “As you know, North Korea is a very closed society,” he said.
Mr Trump, who became the first sitting US president to cross into North Korea in June 2019 during a summit with Kim at the Korean Demilitarised Zone, claimed on Tuesday night that his presidency had prevented war between the two nuclear powers.
“I’ve said it, I’ve said it many times, if somebody else were in this position we would’ve been right now in war with North Korea, and we’re not at war, we’re nowhere close to war with North Korea,” said Mr Trump.
Last month, the president was thanked for sending a ‘personal letter’ to his North Korean counterpart for offering help over the coronavirus, after North Korea introduced strict containment measures.
