North Korean leader reappears after 20 days

After nearly three weeks’ absence from the public eye, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was purportedly shown on Friday opening a fertilizer plant at Sunchon,  north of the capital. After wide speculation about his ill health, images published on the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper website depicted a smiling Kim accompanied by senior officials including his influential younger sister Kim Yo-long. Thousands of people were also shown, many of them wearing face masks, cheering “Hurrah! for the Supreme leader. The authenticity of the photos could not be immediately verified.