Trump says glad to see Kim Jong-un ‘back and well’

‘I, for one, am glad to see he is back, and well!’ Trump tweets after repeatedly posting on Twitter during his working weekend at Camp David

This picture, released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visiting the completed Suchon phosphate fertilizer factory in South Pyongan Province (KCNA VIA KNS/AFP/Getty)

President Trump has said he is ”glad” Kim Jong-un is back in public life and doing “well”, after the North Korean leader made his first public appearance in 20 days, according to the country’s state media.

“I, for one, am glad to see he is back, and well!” the president tweeted on Saturday evening and included a link to apparent new photographs of Kim Jong-un cutting the tape at a ceremony marking the completion of Sunchon Phosphatic Fertiliser Factory in North Korea.

Mr Trump is spending a “working weekend” with close aides at the presidential retreat Camp David in Maryland, but managed to find time on Saturday to send a flurry of tweets covering subjects from his poll numbers to Congress, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and Michael Flynn.

The absence of Kim Jong-un over the last three weeks triggered rumours he had died or was in a coma following failed heart surgery.

However, the official Korean Central News Agency said Kim attended a ceremony on Friday to mark the completion of the fertiliser factory near the capital, Pyongyang.

He apparently attended with senior officials including his sister and putative successor Kim Yo-jong. Photographs released by the North Korean government appeared to confirm this.

Speculation about Kim’s health began after he missed the birthday celebration for his late grandfather Kim Il Sung on 15 April.

It was the first time he was not present for the important holiday in North Korea since taking power in 2011.

Over the next two weeks, state media reported that Kim was carrying out routine activities such as sending greetings to the leaders of Syria, Cuba and South Africa.

He had not made a public appearance since presiding over a ruling Workers’ Party meeting to discuss the coronavirus on 11 April.

President Donald Trump talks to journalists on the South Lawn while departing the White House for Camp David on 1 May, 2020 (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

On that day, he reappointed his sister as an alternate member of the decision-making political bureau of the party’s central committee.

The following day, the government issued an undated picture of Mr Kim inspecting an air defence unit.

Last week Reuters reported that China had sent a team of medical experts to North Korea. However it was unclear what, if anything, was wrong with the North Korean leader.

On Monday, Donald Trump said he had a good idea how Mr Kim was doing and hoped he was fine – without elaborating on what he knew.

And earlier this week a South Korean minister said the North Korean leader’s unexplained absence could be due to him being afraid of contracting coronavirus. North Korea has reported that it has zero cases of Covid-19.

In 2014, Kim vanished from the public eye for nearly six weeks and then reappeared with a cane. South Korea’s spy agency said he had a cyst removed from his ankle.