Where is waldo - I mean Kin Jong-un?

Kim Jong-un 'Still in Charge'

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is still governing his country despite his failure to show up an event marking the anniversary of the Workers Party, China's official CCTV reported on Friday.

"Messages he receives from and sends to [foreign leaders] are making the headlines in the North Korean press," it said.

"Many people are laying wreaths and paying respects to the statues of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il in downtown Pyongyang," the official Xinhua news agency reported. "The downtown area was crowded, and there were no unusual signs such as roadblocks or intensified security."

Rumors that Pyongyang is sealed off and travel is banned are false, and it looked like a typical holiday in Pyongyang on Friday, Andrea Lee of Uri Tours, a U.S. travel agency that arranges tours to North Korea, told the Voice of America.

Parks in Pyongyang were crowded with people, and tourists from China, Europe, and the U.S. were visiting the North as usual, she added.

"He has difficulty walking and needs about 100 days to recuperate," Reuters quoted a North Korean source as saying. "He ordered all the generals to take part in drills and he took part too. They were crawling and running and rolling around, and he pulled a tendon. He injured his ankle and knee around late August or September while drilling because he is overweight. He limped around in the beginning but the injury worsened."

But despite his poor health, a source “said rumors of a coup were 'rubbish,'" Reuters said.

Rumors about Kim's health spread after he missed the anniversary of the regime on Sept. 9 and a session of the Supreme People's Assembly on Sept. 25.

The North Korean government has said that the country's leader, Kim Jong-un, is healthy.

"No doubt about it," the country's ambassador to the UK told the BBC, despite the leader's non-appearance in public since 3 September.

Ambassador Hyon Hak Bong also said US missionary Kenneth Bae was being held in a "reform institution", which was not the same as a labour camp.

Mr Bae was sentenced to 15 years' hard labour in 2013.

The ambassador said in an email to the BBC: "We have reform institutions where offenders sentenced to penalty of reform through labour by the relevant laws are held and educated through labour. Some Western media interpret them as 'labour camps', but they are reform institutions."

"If I take an example, the place where American citizen Bae Jun Ho (Kenneth Bae) is being held is a reform institution."

A month ago, under the supervision of North Korean officials, Mr Bae gave an interview to Western media where he said he was being treated "as humanely as possible".

His family said, though, that he had previously sent letters saying his health was failing and that he suffered from diabetes.

"No improvement"

The ambassador to London seems to be part of a drive by North Korean diplomats around the world to counter criticism of the country's human rights record.

The United Nations accused North Korea earlier this year of crimes against humanity, including systematic extermination, torture, rape, forced abortions and starvation.

There are moves to indict the country's leader before the International Criminal Court.

The ambassador said the allegations were false and driven by the United States which wanted to topple the regime in Pyongyang.

"Let me make it clear", he said. "We do not have political prisons or political camps."

Human Rights Watch said earlier this year: "There has been no discernible improvement in human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) since Kim Jong-un assumed power after his father's death in 2011. The government continues to impose totalitarian rule."

It's hard to know if the ambassador's lengthy communication on the situation in his country is driven by immediate concerns such as any upcoming condemnation at the United Nations, or is a sign of a genuine change of policy.

North Korean diplomats have approached the European Union and said they are prepared to discuss human rights in North Korea.

Whatever is happening in Pyongyang, there is unlikely to be any great change from the West, though, while North Korea pursues nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them.

The ambassador said: "Under the present circumstances, there will be no alternative for us but to further strengthen the DPRK's self-defensive deterrence to protect its system and sovereignty."

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has made his first public appearance since 3 September, the country's official news agency says.

The KCNA agency said on Tuesday that Mr Kim "gave field guidance" at a newly built scientists' residential district.

Rodong Sinmun daily newspaper carried several photographs of Mr Kim using a walking stick as he inspected the site.

The absence of the 32-year-old leader had prompted a flurry of speculation about his health.
Analysis: Stephen Evans, BBC News, Seoul

The photographs are still pictures so it's impossible to know how easily Kim Jong-un is walking - did he walk for long, was he standing simply for the photographer?

It's also impossible to tell if the stick in the pictures is an aid because of an untreated continuation of the previous ailment, or to help him after surgery.

Some observers said Mr Kim could be suffering from gout or problems in his hip joint. Others even questioned if he remained in control of the state.


What the pictures clearly show, though, is that he is at the centre of power.

One of the acolytes apparently hanging on his every word is Hwang Pyong-so, the general who led a delegation to South Korea 10 days ago. At the time, some of the more feverish speculation had it that this might signify that the military leader was actually in control.

The newly-released pictures indicate that Kim Jong-un remains the top man. It may or may not be significant that the visit was to a residential complex for satellite scientists - the kind of people who work on missile technology.

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Official media have cited unspecified personal "discomfort" as grounds for Mr Kim's absence from public view.

On Sunday, North Korea's ambassador to London told the BBC that Mr Kim was in good health.

KCNA said that Mr Kim was briefed on the Wisong Scientists Residential District "before a map showing its bird's-eye view" and that he then "overlooked it".

"Looking over the exterior of the apartment houses and public buildings, decorated with diverse coloured tiles, (Mr Kim) expressed great satisfaction, saying they looked very beautiful," the agency said.

It also said that Mr Kim visited the newly-built Natural Energy Institute of the State Academy of Sciences.

Although the news release was dated Tuesday, it did not specify on which day he made the visits.

Lots of unanswered questions, but one thing's for certain, he's not in bloody Switzerland.

- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who recently disappeared from public view for about six weeks, had a cyst removed from his right ankle, a lawmaker told CNN.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service told lawmakers during a closed-door meeting that a cyst was found on Kim's right ankle earlier this year, between May and June. That cyst may have caused muscle or nerve damage and prompted him to have ankle surgery between September and October, lawmaker Lee Cheol-woo said.
At the briefing, lawmakers were told that "European experts" handled the surgery for tarsal tunnel syndrome. The syndrome is caused by compression at the ankle -- known to cause pain during standing and walking

South Korean politicians were told that foreign medical experts had been flown to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, to remove the cyst from Mr Kim's left ankle.

Russia says North Korea's leader has accepted an invitation to travel to Moscow in May for World War Two anniversary celebrations.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said his presence had been confirmed, and Russia was preparing for his visit.

However, Mr Peskov did not mention Kim Jong-un by name, sparking speculation that another official may attend.

Kim Jong-un has not made any overseas visits since taking power in North Korea in late 2011.