Thae Yong-ho and Ji Seong-ho both said in South Korea that leader was gravely ill or dead

A former senior North Korean diplomat has apologised after saying Kim Jong-un was probably so ill he could not stand, days before he emerged on state media smoking and walking briskly at an event attended by hundreds of officials.

Kim disappeared from state media for three weeks, an unusually long time, leading to concerns over the nuclear-armed state in the event of an unexpected succession.

Moon Chung-in quashes health rumours, saying North Korean leader has been in Wonsan – a resort town in the country’s east – since 13 April

South Korea has said that Kim Jong-un, is “alive and well”, downplaying rumours that that the North Korean leader was seriously ill after undergoing heart surgery.

“Our government position is firm,” Moon Chung-in, a special adviser on national security to the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, said in an interview with CNN on Sunday. “Kim Jong-un is alive and well.”

Kim Yo-jong reinstated to position she lost last year after collapse of US summit

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s powerful younger sister has been reinstated to a key decision-making body, state media have reported, marking her rise in the isolated nation.

Long one of her brother’s closest advisers, Kim Yo-jong was reappointed an alternate member of the political bureau of the central committee in a reshuffle of top officials on Saturday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

South Korean military says three projectiles were launched on Monday, following launch of two short-range missiles on 2 March

North Korea has fired three unidentified projectiles off its eastern coast a week after firing two short-range missiles, South Korea’s military said.

The projectiles were launched on Monday from the coastal town of Sondok, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The town hosts a military airfield and North Korea fired missiles from the area last year.