Is Kim Jong-un really dead? Here's what South Korea says

Although the internet is rife with conspiracy theories and several publications have expressed the belief that the Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, is either "dead" or critically ill, the country of South Korea has once again reiterated that it has reason to believe that Kim is "alive and well".

Moon Chung-in, the top foreign policy advisor to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, recently spoke to Cable News Network (CNN), an American news-media network, over the reports of Kim Jong-un's ill health. Moon claimed that the position of the South Korean government is "firm" on this issue, maintaining that the Supreme Leader of its neighbouring country is alive and well and "has been staying in the Wonsan area since April 13". The foreign policy advisor added that "no suspicious movements have so far been detected."

Notably, new satellite imagery from North Korea had emerged last week which shed some light on Kim Jong-un's possible whereabouts. According to a report by '38 North', the North Korea observation centre at the Washington-based Henry L. Stimson Centre, the recent satellite images show that a train, belonging to Kim Jon-un, remains parked near the Wonsan compound of the Supreme Leader.

The train’s presence does not prove the whereabouts of the North Korean leader or indicate anything about his health, but it does lend weight to reports that "Kim is staying at an elite area on the country’s eastern coast." This is backed by the South Korean government's stand that Kim has been staying in the Wonsan area.

World media has been rife with floating reports suggesting the North Korean leader's ill health after undergoing a cardiovascular procedure at a hospital on April 12. CNN had earlier reported that Kim was in "grave danger", citing unnamed US officials who reportedly told the publication that "the concerns about Kim's health are credible but the severity is hard to assess."

However, soon after this, the South Korean government's Unification Ministry and National Intelligence Service said that it was looking into US media reports and later stated that the Supreme Leader in the North was not "gravely ill".

A report by a Seoul-based publication, Daily NK, citing unidentified sources inside North Korea, also stated that Kim Jong-un is now recovering at a villa in the Mount Kumgang resort county of Hyangsan on the east coast.

Several South Korean media reports also corroborated that the speculations over Kim's supposed "grave health" conditions were fueled by the fact that the North Korean leader was absent from a key anniversary event earlier this month.

Speculation has been rife about what happened to Kim since he apparently skipped an annual visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on the occasion of the 108th birthday of his late grandfather and state founder Kim Il-sung on April 15.

Kim was last seen on April 11 in state media reports presiding over a political bureau meeting of the ruling Workers` Party, calling for "strict national countermeasures to thoroughly check the infiltration of the virus".

Reporting from inside North Korea is notoriously difficult, especially on matters concerning the country's leadership, given tight controls on information. Credible information about North Korea and especially its leadership is difficult to obtain, and even intelligence agencies have been wrong about its inner workings in the past.

Kim Jong-un took over as the Supreme Leader of North Korea after his father and late leader Kim Jong-il died in late 2011.