Kim Jong Un photos released on October 20 amid death rumours

North Korean state media published photographs of leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday (October 20, 2026), reporting that he had visited a clothing and footwear exhibition in Pyongyang on October 19 as unverified claims about his death circulated online.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) showed Kim Jong Un accompanied by his wife, Ri Sol Ju, and daughter, Kim Ju Ae, according to Yonhap. The exhibition account provides a more recent reported appearance than the October 11 museum visit cited in earlier coverage of the rumours.

The state-media account dates Kim’s exhibition visit to October 19. The photographs do not constitute an independent assessment of his medical condition.

Online posts fuel claims about Kim Jong Un’s health

International Business Times UK traced allegations of a medical emergency and Kim Jong Un’s death to social media posts by Wanjun Xie, who introduced his account as a rumour. The posts provided no independently verifiable evidence supporting the claims.

Xie alleged that specialists from Peking Union Medical College Hospital travelled to North Korea after Kim suffered a severe brain haemorrhage and entered a coma. His account claimed that Kim was subsequently transferred to the Beijing hospital, where he died, before his body was secretly returned to North Korea.

The Sun also carried the coma and hospital-transfer allegations, describing them as internet claims and online speculation. The newspaper reported claims that inadequate medical facilities in Pyongyang had prompted the supposed transfer, but provided no independent medical confirmation.

Geo News reported on October 19 that neither North Korea nor China had acknowledged the alleged emergency and that no hospital records or independent evidence had emerged to substantiate it.

Chinese troop claims accompany conflicting succession accounts

Xie alleged that China had sent 9,000 troops to Pyongyang to help Kim Ju Ae stabilise a successor administration, before subsequently claiming that power had passed to Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong. Neither account provided independently verified evidence of a troop deployment or a leadership change.

Xie also claimed that the People’s Liberation Army’s Northern Theater Command had increased its readiness, suspended leave and recalled personnel. His accompanying warning of civil war was a prediction, with no evidence of fighting supplied.

Xie’s further allegations that Kim Yo Jong had ordered loudspeaker broadcasts and warning shots towards South Korea also lacked corroboration. The military and succession claims came from the same source as the medical allegations and did not independently substantiate them.

Kim Yo Jong separately said in an October 19 statement carried by KCNA that North Korea was considering additional tactical weapons near the South Korean border and a resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts. The statement did not announce a transfer of power.

South Korean intelligence outlined Kim Jong Un’s health risks

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told lawmakers on September 30 that Kim Jong Un weighed around 140kg but showed no significant signs of ill health, KBS reported, citing lawmakers briefed by the agency. The NIS also assessed that severe obesity put him at high risk of cardiovascular disease.

The NIS assessment preceded the latest rumours about Kim Jong Un by less than three weeks. The briefing did not establish his medical condition when the subsequent claims began circulating.

The Sun cited Kim Jong Un’s height of about 170cm, heavy smoking and a diet including steak and lobster. UNN also referred to obesity and smoking in his father, Kim Jong Il, and grandfather, Kim Il Sung, but those accounts offered no evidence of the alleged current emergency.

Yonhap reported on October 13, citing KCNA, that Kim Jong Un had attended the opening of the National Defence Revolution Museum on October 11 with Ri Sol Ju and Kim Ju Ae. Geo News said the weapons displays included an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.

Benedict Rogers, a North Korea analyst, told The Sun’s From The Newsroom programme before the latest photographs were released that previous leaders’ deaths had prompted an “orchestrated outpouring of public grief”, including crying crowds and emotional newsreaders. Rogers said he had not seen such scenes when he spoke and expected either public mourning or evidence that Kim was alive.

Kim Jong Un faced similar death and coma rumours in 2020 and subsequently reappeared. During the April–May episode, state media reported his return after about three weeks out of public view; speculation that year also raised the possibility of his sister taking power.

Kim Ju Ae’s public appearances fuel succession speculation

South Korean intelligence has assessed that Kim Ju Ae is being positioned to succeed Kim Jong Un, although North Korea has not publicly designated her as his successor. Her growing prominence does not establish that a transfer of power has occurred.

Kim Ju Ae, Kim Jong Un’s teenage daughter, first appeared publicly at a missile launch in November 2022 and accompanied her father to China in 2025. She would become North Korea’s first woman leader if she eventually took power.

The Sun cited analysts who suggested that Kim Yo Jong could serve as an interim leader until her niece was old enough to rule. The suggestion remains a possible succession scenario, rather than an announced arrangement.

An unnamed source quoted by The Sun predicted that Kim Ju Ae would face “the bloodsport of politics”, including the removal of disloyal aides “through violent means”. The comments were speculation about what a future succession might involve.

Kim Jong Un took power after the death in 2011 of his father, Kim Jong Il, who had ruled since 1994. Kim Jong Un’s uncle, Jang Song Thaek, was executed in 2013.