Washington/Seoul: US President Donald Trump said that he was glad to see North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “back and well” following rumours he the latter was gravely ill, the media reported on Sunday.
On Saturday, North Korean posted photos of Kim, ending a 20-day absence from public view that sparked intense speculation about his whereabouts and health, the Soul-based Yonhap News Agency reported.
“I, for one, am glad to see he is back, and well,” Trump wrote in a retweet on Saturday of what appeared to be a scholar’s tweet embedded with photos of Kim at a May 1 ceremony marking the completion of a fertilizer plant in Sunchon, north of Pyongyang.
Trump declined to comment on Kim’s reappearance on Friday, telling reporters he may have something to say about it at the appropriate time.
He also refused to say whether Kim was still alive but when asked if he will be talking to the North Korean leader on the weekend, he said: “I may.”
Trump had previously claimed he knew what was going on with Kim and dismissed a CNN report alleging that the leader was in “grave danger” as “incorrect”, Yonhap News Agency reported
Trump and Kim have met three times in a bid to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear weapons program in exchange for US concessions.
The negotiations have ground to a halt since their second summit in Vietnam in February 2019 due to differences.
