Kim Jong Un has made his first public appearance in nearly six weeks, walking with a cane for a visit to a new residential area, according to a report by North Korea’s official news agency.
If true, this would mark the end of a lengthy retreat that had fuelled speculation about Mr Kim’s health and grip on power in the secretive country.
Pictures in the North’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed the 31-year-old leader smiling and gesturing in his signature dark-buttoned suit, surrounded by top aides as he commended construction workers who had built a residential complex for scientists. He was also reported to have visited the newly built Natural Energy Institute of the State Academy of Sciences.