South Korea Blue House's assessment is Kim Jong Un did not have surgery

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea’s assessment is that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not have a surgery, local news outlet Yonhap said, citing an unidentified senior official at presidential Blue House. “There were speculative reports that Chairman Kim underwent a surgery citing some difference to his walk,” the official was cited as saying. “We have reasons to believe that there was no surgery, but cannot disclose such details.” Earlier, US President Donald Trump owelcomed the reemergence of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un after weeks of speculation about his health, but prospects for the US efforts to persuade Pyongyang to denuclearize appear as bleak as ever. On Saturday, North Korean media said Kim cut a ribbon at a ceremony on Friday to mark the completion of a fertilizer plant. It had not reported on Kim’s whereabouts since he presided over a meeting on April 11, provoking speculation that he was seriously ill and raising concerns about instability in his nuclear-armed country that could affect other North Asian countries and the United States. Kim was seen in photographs smiling and talking to aides at the ceremony and also touring the plant. The authenticity of the photos could not be verified. A US government source familiar with intelligence reporting said Washington strongly believes Kim is alive, but has not been able to confirm the photos were taken on Friday, or explain why he had not been seen for weeks. Trump, who met Kim three times in 2018 and 2019 in unprecedented but unsuccessful personal attempts to persuade him to give up his nuclear weapons, tweeted on Saturday: “I, for one, am glad to see he is back, and well!”