路透社周五报道，中国已派遣一组医生前往朝鲜，帮助确定朝鲜最高领导人金正恩的健康状况。香港卫星电视报道称，金正日已经死亡，尽管目前还没有来自美国方面的证实。
“尽管美国继续监控有关朝鲜最高领导人健康状况的报道，但目前还没有官方渠道证实金正恩已经死亡，”一名未经授权在记录上发言的五角大楼高级官员告诉记者新闻周刊。“朝鲜的军事准备状态仍在历史标准之内，没有进一步的证据表明防御姿态或国家层面的领导层发生了重大变化。”
金正日最后一次公开露面是在4月11日的政治局会议上，尽管官方媒体也分享了他第二天参加空袭演习的镜头。4月15日是他的祖父朝鲜开国元勋金日成(Kim Il Sung)的孙庆祝会，他的缺席首次引发了人们对他健康状况的猜测。
周一，有传言称朝鲜国家元首在不健康在4月12日接受心脏手术后，韩国《朝鲜日报》(Daily NK outlet)刊登的一篇匿名消息引发了此事。该报与美国国会资助的智库及其他机构有关联，还有一篇美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)的文章援引一名未具名的美国官员的话说，金正日在手术后面临严重危险。
这些谣言随后被美国情报部门和两名美国官员否认告诉新闻周刊周二他们没有理由认为金患有任何严重的疾病。同样，当时韩国联合通讯社援引一名政府官员的话说，从朝鲜传来的消息没有什么异常可以表明金正日生病了。
韩国外交部没有回应新闻周刊但他提到了一份蓝屋声明，在声明中，韩国总统文在寅的办公室也表示，没有关于朝鲜或其王朝健康的异常活动的报道。中国和俄罗斯官员对美国和韩国媒体报道的来源提出了质疑，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)也提出了质疑。特朗普是首位会见朝鲜最高领导人的现任美国领导人。
总统周四表示，他认为美国有线电视新闻网的报道是“不正确的”，但没有关于金正日病情的进一步信息。
特朗普告诉记者:“我们和朝鲜的关系很好，尽你所能。”。“我的意思是我们与朝鲜有着良好的关系。我和金正恩关系很好，我希望他没事。”
2019年6月30日，在非军事区板门店的联合安全区(JSA)，朝鲜领导人金正恩在朝韩军事分界线南侧与美国总统唐纳德·特朗普会晤。
金正日和他的家族前辈一直是国际媒体猜测的对象，因为朝鲜内部的信息受到严格控制，几乎没有泄露的余地。自从金正日在2011年他父亲去世后接任以来，人们知道他有时会消失，他最长的一次缺席是在2014年的一个多月。
但与他之前的统治者不同，这位最年轻的现任最高领导人缺乏外界所知的明确的继承路线。只有外国消息来源声称金正日和他的妻子李素珠可能有孩子，这位年轻的统治者没有正式的继承人。有人推测他的妹妹金正日据报道，现年31岁的金正日是金正日的主要副手之一，她可能会接替近年来稳步提升自己职位的哥哥。
国务卿迈克·庞贝在周四接受福克斯新闻采访时谈到了金正日。
“嗯，我的确有机会见过她几次，但挑战依然如故。目标保持不变，”庞贝说。“无论谁领导朝鲜，我们都希望他们放弃核计划，我们希望他们加入国际联盟，我们希望朝鲜人民有一个更加光明的未来。但是他们必须去核化，我们必须以一种我们可以验证的方式去核化。不管谁领导朝鲜，这都是事实。”
在2017年充满核威胁的紧张局势之后，特朗普政府于2018年开始与平壤达成前所未有的无核化换和平协议。这一努力在双方都产生了一些早期的善意措施，以及特朗普和金正日之间的三次历史性会晤，但最终未能达成协议，导致这两个长期敌人之间的摩擦逐渐恢复，从技术上讲，这两个敌人自20世纪50年代以来一直处于战争状态，至今仍主导着分裂的朝鲜半岛。
CHINA SENDS DOCTORS TO NORTH KOREA AS TV REPORT FUELS SPECULATION ABOUT KIM JONG UN'S HEALTH
China has sent a team of doctors to North Korea to help determine supreme leader of North Korea Kim Jong Un's health status, Reuters reported on Friday. Hong Kong Satellite Television reported that Kim was dead, though there has been no confirmation from U.S. sources at this point.
"While the U.S. continues to monitor reports surrounding the health of the North Korean Supreme Leader, at this time, there is no confirmation from official channels that Kim Jong Un is deceased," a senior Pentagon official not authorized to speak on the record told Newsweek. "North Korean military readiness remains within historical norms and there is no further evidence to suggest a significant change in defensive posturing or national level leadership changes."
Kim's last confirmed public appearance was on April 11, at a politburo meeting, though state media also shared footage of him attending aerial assault drills the following day. It was his absence from April 15 Day of the Sun celebrations dedicated to his grandfather, North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, that first sparked speculation regarding his well-being.
On Monday, rumors spread that the North Korean head of state was in ill health after undergoing heart surgery on April 12, sparked by an anonymous source featured in the South Korea-based Daily NK outlet, a publication linked to a U.S. Congress-funded think tank among other institutions, along with a CNN article citing an unnamed U.S. official that said Kim was in grave danger following the operation.
These rumors were subsequently discounted by U.S. intelligence, with two U.S. officials telling Newsweek on Tuesday they had no reason to think that Kim had suffered any kind of serious illness. Similarly, at the time, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency cited a government official who said there was nothing unusual coming from North Korea that could suggest Kim was ill.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry did not respond to Newsweek's request for comment the following day, but referred to a Blue House statement in which the office of South Korean President Moon Jae-in also said no unusual activity related to North Korea or the health of its dynast had been reported. Chinese and Russian officials have questioned the sourcing of the U.S. and South Korean media reports, as has President Donald Trump, the first sitting U.S. leader to meet a North Korean supreme leader.
The president said Thursday he believed CNN's report was "incorrect," but had no further information to provide about Kim's condition.
"We have a good relationship with North Korea, as good as you can have," Trump told reporters. "I mean we have a good relationship with North Korea. I have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un and I hope he's okay."
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un before a meeting with US President Donald Trump on the south side of the Military Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea, in the Joint Security Area (JSA) of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized zone (DMZ) on June 30, 2019.
Kim and his familial predecessors have long been the subject of international press conjecture as information within North Korea is strictly controlled, leaving little room for leaks. Since Kim took over following his father's death in 2011, he has been known to at times disappear, his longest absence being over a month in 2014.
But unlike those who ruled before him, the youngest, current supreme leader lacks any clear line of succession known to the outside world. With only foreign sources claiming Kim and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, may have had any children, the young ruler has no official heir. Some have speculated that his younger sister Kim Yo Jong, reported to be 31 and one of Kim's key lieutenants, could succeed her brother, who has steadily promoted her position in recent years.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed Kim Yo Jong in an interview Thursday with Fox News.
"Well, I did have a chance to meet her a couple of times, but the challenge remains the same. The goal remains unchanged," Pompeo said. "Whoever is leading North Korea, we want them to give up their nuclear program, we want them to join the league of nations, and we want a brighter future for the North Korean people. But they've got to denuclearize, and we've got to do so in a way that we can verify. That's true no matter who is leading North Korea."
After a tense 2017 filled with exchanges of nuclear-fueled threats, the Trump administration set out in 2018 to strike an unprecedented denuclearization-for-peace deal with Pyongyang. The effort yielded some early good-faith measures on both sides, as well as three historic meetings between Trump and Kim but ultimately failed to produce an agreement, leading to a gradual renewal in frictions between the longtime foe still technically at war since their 1950s conflict that still dominates the divided Korean Peninsula.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
