Photos: Kim Jong Un resurfaces after weeks of health rumors

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made his first public appearance in 20 days as he celebrated the completion of a fertiliSer factory near Pyongyang, state media said Saturday, ending an absence that had triggered global rumors that he may be seriously ill. The authenticity of the photos, published on the website of the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper, could not be verified.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim attended the ceremony Friday in Sunchon with other senior officials, including his sister Kim Yo Jong, who many analysts predict would take over if her brother is suddenly unable to rule.

State media showed videos and photos of Kim wearing a black Mao suit and constantly smiling, walking around facilities, applauding, cutting a huge red ribbon with a scissor handed by his sister, and smoking inside and outside of buildings while talking with other officials.

Seemingly thousands of workers, many of them masked, stood in lines at the massive complex, roaring in celebration and releasing balloons into the air. A sign installed on a stage where Kim sat with other senior officials read: "Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory" Completion Ceremony" May 1, 2020."

Seemingly thousands of workers, many of them masked, stood in lines at the massive complex, roaring in celebration and releasing balloons into the air. A sign installed on a stage where Kim sat with other senior officials read: "Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory" Completion Ceremony" May 1, 2020."

It was Kim's first public appearance since April 11, when he presided over a ruling Workers' Party meeting to discuss the coronavirus and reappoint his sister as an alternate member of the powerful decision-making Political Bureau of the party's Central Committee. That move confirmed her substantial role in the government.

The city of Sunchon where the fertiliser factory was built is about 50 kms north of Pyongyang in the western region, away from Wonsan, the eastern coastal resort where South Korean and US officials have said Kim may have been staying.

Kim's reported appearance at a fertiliser plant is the latest signal to domestic audiences that he is watching out for their economic and food wellbeing, but nuclear analysts believe it is likely a part of the North's covert uranium enrichment efforts.