President Donald Trump has rejected reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was ailing, criticising his frequent nemesis CNN for running the story, reported AFP on Friday, 24 April.
"I think the report was incorrect, let me just put it that way," Trump told reporters on Thursday.
“I'm hearing they used old documents.” Trump declined to say if he had direct knowledge from North Korea that Kim was fine. He instead attacked cable news network CNN, with which the US leader has an acrimonious relationship.
“I think it was a fake report done by CNN,” Trump said at a daily briefing on the coronavirus pandemic, before refusing to take further questions from a journalist of the network.
Earlier, Trump had wished North Korea's Kim Jong Un “well” but stopped short of directly commenting on the reclusive leader’s health amid reports that he underwent a serious surgery, as per a report by AFP.
“I wish him well,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday noting the “good relationship” he shares with the North Korean leader.
“If he is in the kind of condition that the reports say, that the news is saying, it's a very serious condition,” he said.
The United States had fuelled speculation about Kim Jong Un’s health after stating that they had received information that the North Korean leader was in a critical condition after undergoing cardiovascular surgery last week, as indicated in a CNN report quoting an anonymous US official.
The South Korean government on Tuesday was looking into US media reports saying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was in fragile condition after surgery.
Officials from South Korea's Unification Ministry and National Intelligence Service said that they couldn't immediately confirm the report. The anonymous US official, CNN reported, said Kim was in “grave danger” after an unspecified surgery.
South Korea's presidential office on Tuesday said no suspicious activities have been detected in North Korea. The presidential Blue House added it couldn't confirm Kim's current health, AP reported.
(With inputs from AFP and PTI.)
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