Kim Jong-un emerges from almost three-week absence

Bloomberg

Kim Jong-un ended his almost three-week absence from public events with a factory visit, an appearance that will ease, but not end, concern about the stability of the North Korean regime and control of its nuclear arsenal.
Kim presided over a May Day ceremony to mark the completion of the Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory northeast of the capital Pyongyang, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Saturday. State media released photos showing the North Korean leader in a black Mao suit cutting a ribbon outside the facility, which non-proliferation experts say could be used to help produce fissile material for nuclear bombs.
The office of South Korean President Moon Jae-in — who had helped mediate Trump’s first summit with Kim almost two years ago — said the appearance confirmed its statements that the North Korea leader had been governing as normal. “Today’s public activity is not anything special, and the office does not make much of it,” the presidential office said.
Although Kim had dropped out of state media for longer periods — including a six-week lull in 2014 — his absence from annual April 15 birthday celebrations for his late grandfather Kim Il Sung was unprecedented. Subsequent reports that Kim, 36, had undergone a cardiovascual procedure and that China had dispatched a medical team to help its neighbour and ally fed global speculation about his health and possible successors.
The stability of impoverished North Korea concerns not only China and its other immediate neighbours, but the world since a power vacuum would raise questions about who controls its estimated stockpile of 20-30 nuclear warheads.
While Saturday’s state media reports should end debate about whether Kim is alive
and in charge, they shed little light on whether he had had surgery, was avoiding the coronavirus, seeking global attention or other theories that had circulated.
“The deception and voluntary withholding of information for three weeks underscore just how much you can’t trust North Korea’s intentions,” said Soo Kim, a Rand Corp policy analyst who specialises in Korean Peninsula issues. “If Kim had been well all this time, imagine the field day he must have had as he observed the world react to his non-appearance. It was a test that effectively helped him collect more data points on the outside world.”
During his visit to the fertiliser factory, Kim said the
project demonstrated the country’s commitment to “self-reliance,” adding that his father and grandfather would be “greatly pleased.” “The supreme leader warmly acknowledged the builders and masses raising thunderous cheers,” the KCNA report said.

Trump says he ‘may’ talk to Kim over this weekend
Bloomberg

President Donald Trump said he “may” talk to Kim Jong-un this weekend after North Korean state media
on Saturday reported the leader’s first appearance in weeks.
“We’ll have something to say about it at the appropriate time,” Trump told reporters in a transcript of his remarks released by the White House. He declined to comment further.
Trump said he will be going to Camp David this weekend to have meetings and phone calls with some foreign leaders.
Kim attended the May Day opening of a fertiliser factory, state media said, breaking an almost three-week absence from public events that prompted questions about his health.