- At a Monday White House briefing, Trump said he has "a good idea" of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's health condition.
- "I can't tell you exactly. Yes, I do have a very good idea, but I can't talk about it now. I just wish him well, I've had a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un," Trump said.
- Over the past several weeks, rumors and speculation have mounted surrounding Kim's health. The leader hasn't been publicly seen since April 11 and missed a key April 15 celebration.
- But over the past two days, top officials in South Korea have said that according to their own intelligence, Kim is alive, and there is no basis to the rumors that he is in medical danger.
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At a Monday evening White House coronavirus task force briefing, President Donald Trump said he has "a very good idea" of North Korean leader's Kim Jong Un's medical condition, but isn't sure of the leader's whereabouts.
Kim has not been seen publicly since April 11, and he did not appear at an April 15 birthday celebration for his late grandfather Kim Il Sung, the biggest event of the year in the country. Since then, speculation has mounted that Kim, believed to be in his mid-30s, is in medical danger or in poor health.
At the briefing, a reporter asked if Trump had heard any updates on Kim's health.
"I can't tell you exactly. Yes, I do have a very good idea, but I can't talk about it now. I just wish him well, I've had a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un," Trump said.
"If I weren't president, you would have been in war with Korea. You'd be in a war with North Korea if I wasn't president. He expected that, that I can tell you. I hope he's fine. I do know how he's doing, relatively speaking, you'll probably be hearing more in the not-too-distant future," Trump added, before saying later that "no one" knows where the North Korean leader is.
Multiple unconfirmed reports have speculated that Kim is sick or even in grave medical danger, causing his unusually long absence from the public eye. It is very difficult for outsiders to definitively confirm or disprove any rumors regarding North Korea, which is a dictatorship and largely closed off to the rest of the world
While Kim has several health risk factors including being medically obese and frequently smoking, there is no currently no concrete evidence to support the rumors that his health is in danger.
Last week, a South Korean news outlet, citing one anonymous source in North Korea, reported that Kim had undergone heart surgery and was recuperating.
On Friday, Reuters reported that China had sent a team including three medical experts to North Korea to advise Kim, but was "unable to immediately determine what the trip by the Chinese team signaled in terms of Kim's health."
But over the past two days, top officials in South Korea said that according to their own intelligence, Kim is alive, and there is no basis to the rumors that he is in medical danger.
On Sunday, a top foreign policy advisor to South Korea's President Moon Jae-in told Fox News that Kim is "alive and well," adding, "He has been staying in the Wonsan area since April 13. No suspicious movements have so far been detected."
And on Monday, the Associated Press reported that South Korea's Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul said in a private meeting that the country has "enough intelligence to confidently say that there are no unusual developments" regarding Kim's health.
A US official also told the outlet that the US government still views the rumors about Kim's health as "speculation."
Also on Monday, Washington-based North Korea monitoring project 38 North obtained and published satellite photographs of a train likely belonging to Kim parked at the leadership station at his family complex in the resort town of Wonsan, where South Korean officials said Kim was located.
But as 38 North highlighted in its report on the photos, "the train's presence does not prove the whereabouts of the North Korean leader or indicate anything about his health but it does lend weight to reports that Kim is staying at an elite area on the country's eastern coast."
SEE ALSO: South Korea says it has 'enough intelligence' to say Kim Jong Un is still alive
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