Amid the ever growing speculations over the death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un over the last few days, a top security adviser to the South's President Moon Jae-downplayed the rumours by saying that Kim is very much "alive and well".
"Our government position is firm," said Moon's special adviser on national security Moon Chung-in, in an interview with CNN on Sunday (April 26). "Kim Jong Un is alive and well."
The adviser said that Kim had been staying in Wonsan - a resort town in the country's east - since April 13, adding: "No suspicious movements have so far been detected."
Conjecture about Kim's health has grown since his conspicuous absence from the April 15 celebrations for the birthday of his grandfather Kim Il Sung, the North's founder - the most important day in the country's political calendar.
Kim has not made a public appearance since presiding over a Workers' Party politburo meeting on April 11, and the following day state media reported him inspecting fighter jets at an air defence unit.
His absence has unleashed a series of unconfirmed media reports over his condition, which officials in Seoul previously poured cold water on.
"We have nothing to confirm and no special movement has been detected inside North Korea as of now," the South's presidential office said in a statement last week.