Kim Jong Un is rumored to have had a brain hemorrhage, a North Korean news site appears down, and a dissident claims he ‘succumbed to his injuries’

North Korean state media released photographs of leader Kim Jong Un touring a Pyongyang exhibition after a dissident alleged Kim had suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage. According to the Daily Mail, the claim spread through posts on X and came without evidence. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Kim visited on October 19 alongside his wife and their daughter. The claim came from Wanjun Xie, a US-based Chinese dissident who chairs the China Democracy Party.

Xie is known for having joined the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. He introduced his account of Kim’s health as a rumor in a post. He wrote that doctors from Peking Union Medical College Hospital had gone to North Korea for Kim’s treatment. He added that the leader was taken to that hospital in Beijing and later “succumbed to his injuries and died,” and that North Korean authorities were concealing the death.

He also wrote that China had reportedly sent 9,000 soldiers to the North Korean capital, a claim that appeared in British media coverage. That coverage stated that the website of the state-controlled Pyongyang Times appeared to be offline. In a separate post, Xie alleged that Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, holds real power instead of Kim’s daughter, Kim Ju Ae. Outlets in Britain, Turkey, India and Ukraine also carried the claims.

State media releases exhibition photos

The photographs released by state media appear to show Kim examining a pink shoe and touching a woman’s coat displayed on a mannequin. Another image appears to show him looking at rolls of fabric while an official talks with him. A separate report pointed out that independent journalists have not verified the event. South Korean officials at ministries handling diplomacy and security stated they knew of no such information and dismissed the rumor as absurd.

In a report to the National Assembly last month, the National Intelligence Service found no obvious indication that Kim has a health problem. The agency flagged cardiovascular disease as a high risk for Kim. It noted that Kim ran up stairs on a recent visit to inspect a naval destroyer. His most recent public appearance before the rumor was on October 11, when he visited a defense museum in Pyongyang with his daughter.

In May 2025, a separate rumor held that Kim had passed out during a site visit in Wonsan, and it went unconfirmed. In April 2020, rumors spread when he missed the annual commemoration of his grandfather Kim Il Sung’s birthday and then stayed out of view for roughly 20 days. He reappeared in public on May 1, and the rumors proved unfounded.

Kim met Donald Trump at a 2019 summit in Hanoi, and Trump later made his Nobel Peace Prize case in the Oval Office. In September, Xie also posted an unverified claim that Xi Jinping, China’s president, had a stroke after a summit in India.