据韩国联合通讯社(Yonhap)和朝鲜官方通讯社朝中社(KCNA)报道，朝鲜领导人金正恩据报道于周五首次公开露面，出席了位于中东南部城镇顺川的一家化肥厂的竣工仪式。
活动的照片显示这位36岁的老人正在为植物剪彩。朝中社报道说，当他露面时，与会者“爆发出雷鸣般的欢呼”。朝鲜通讯社补充说，金正日对该工厂对国家食品和化学工业的贡献表示赞赏。
“[·金”热情地感谢建筑工人和群众，引发了雷鸣般的欢呼声”该机构继续报道，他随后与执政的工人党的高级官员和他唯一的妹妹金友荣一起参观了工厂。朝中社报道中提供的全部细节尚未得到韩联社或任何其他外部媒体的证实。
化肥厂可能与国家的秘密核野心有关。东亚核扩散研究员玛格丽特·克罗伊讲述新闻周刊最近的一项研究表明，该国的化肥厂可以通过从磷酸中提取铀来帮助生产核材料。
自2011年成为国家领导人以来，金正恩加快了朝鲜的核努力，同时也强调了其他经济和基础设施建设。
当记者问及金正日的健康状况时，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在周五的白宫简报会上回应道:“我现在不想对此发表评论。”。“我们会在适当的时候说些什么。”
在4月20日由韩国媒体报道的一个匿名消息来源引发的关于金正日健康状况的两周公众猜测和谣言之后，金正日周五出现朝鲜日报声明他在不健康在4月12日接受心脏手术后。
美国情报部门随后否认了这些传言。两名美国官员讲述新闻周刊4月21日他们没有理由认为金患有任何严重的疾病或严重的健康问题。大约在同一时间，联合通讯社报道一名韩国政府官员世卫组织表示，没有来自朝鲜的异常报告显示金正日生病。
2016年5月10日，朝鲜劳动党第七次代表大会在平壤金日成广场结束，朝鲜领导人金正恩在人民大学的阳台上挥手致意。
对金正日健康状况的猜测是在他错过了为他经常被尊崇的祖父举行的孙节庆祝活动之后开始的又一个国家假日纪念国父建立抗日游击队。
大约在4月26日，卫星照片显示独裁者的私人火车停在该国东部沿海城市元山附近，他在那里拥有一座别墅。
4月28日，两位朝鲜事务专家和其他消息来源说领导人可能只是保持低调，以避免潜在的冠状病毒暴露。
尽管美国和朝鲜在2017年举行了首次现任领导人会议，但在达成无核化协议方面没有取得任何进展。2018年，朝鲜宣布自行暂停核试验和洲际弹道导弹试验。然而，金在过去的除夕说他不再觉得受到禁令的约束。
新闻周刊已经联系了白宫进行评论。到出版时，它还没有回应。
NORTH KOREAN LEADER KIM JONG UN APPEARS IN PUBLIC, ENDING WEEKS OF SPECULATION ABOUT HIS HEALTH
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly made his first public appearance in two weeks on Friday by attending the completion ceremony of a fertilizer plant in the central southeastern town of Suncheon, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap and the North Korean state-run news agency KCNA.
Pictures of the event show the 36-year-old cutting a ribbon for the plant. KCNA reported that attendees "broke into thunderous cheers of hurrahs" when he made his appearance. Kim expressed praised the factory's contribution to the country's food and chemical industries, the North Korean news agency added.
"[Kim] warmly acknowledged the builders and masses raising thunderous cheers" the agency continued, reporting that he then toured the factory alongside senior officials from the ruling Workers' Party and his only sister, Kim Yo Jong. The full details provided in KCNA's report haven't yet been verified by Yonhap or any other outside media outlets.
The fertilizer plant may be connected to the nation's covert nuclear ambitions. Margaret Croy, a researcher of East Asian nuclear proliferation told Newsweek that a recent study suggested that the country's fertilizer factories could help it produce nuclear material by extracting uranium from phosphoric acids.
Kim has accelerated his country's nuclear efforts while also emphasizing other economic and infrastructural developments since becoming national leader in 2011.
"I'd rather not comment on it yet," U.S President Donald Trump responded at the Friday White House briefing when reporters asked about Kim's health. "We'll have something to say about it at the appropriate time."
Kim's appearance on Friday follows a two-week period of public speculation and rumors about his health following an April 20 rumor, sparked by an anonymous source featured in the South Korea-based media outlet Daily NK, stating that he was in ill health after undergoing heart surgery on April 12.
U.S. intelligence subsequently discounted these rumors. Two U.S. officials toldNewsweek on April 21 they had no reason to consider Kim as suffering from any sort of serious illness or grave health concern. Around the same time, Yonhap reported a South Korean government official who said no unusual reports from North Korea suggested that Kim was ill.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves from a balcony of the Grand People's Study House following a mass parade marking the end of the 7th Workers Party Congress in Kim Il-Sung Square in Pyongyang on May 10, 2016.
Speculation about Kim's health was fueled after he missed the Day of the Sun celebrations dedicated to his frequently exalted grandfather, and another national holidaycommemorating the national founder's establishment of anti-Japanese guerrilla units.
Around April 26, satellite photography showed the dictator's personal train stationed near the country's eastern coastal city of Wonsan where he owns a villa.
On April 28, two experts on North Korean affairs and other sources said the leader could simply be keeping a low public profile to avoid potential exposure to coronavirus.
Although the U.S. and North Korea held its first-ever meeting between sitting leaders in 2017, no progress has been made in attaining a denuclearization agreement. In 2018, North Korea declared a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests. However, Kim said this past New Year's Eve that he no longer felt bound by the moratorium.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House for comment. It hadn't responded by the time of publication.
