https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-52554612South Korea's intelligence agency has said rumours about Kim Jong-un's health were groundless, and there are no signs he had heart surgery.
The North Korean leader recently went 20 days without appearing in public, and missed the celebration of his grandfather's birthday - one of the biggest events of the year.
Some media reports claimed he was "gravely ill", or even dead. But he then appeared at a fertiliser factory - apparently in good health.
What did South Korean intelligence say?
The head of South Korea's intelligence agency, Suh Hoon, spoke to a parliamentary committee on Wednesday. He said there were no signs that rumours about Kim Jong-un's health were true, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. The committee heard the North Korean leader had appeared in public 17 times this year. By this time of year, he would normally have appeared 50 times. But that could have been down to a Covid-19 outbreak, said one member of the committee - even though North Korea officially has no cases.
"It cannot be ruled out that there is an outbreak in North Korea," the lawmaker Kim Byung-kee said. "Kim Jong-un had focused on consolidating internal affairs such as military forces and party-state meetings, and coronavirus concerns have further limited his public activity."