The wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared in public for the first time in more than a year on Wednesday, at a concert that marked one of the country’s biggest holidays.
Ri Sol Ju and her husband were seen in photos published by state media, sitting side by side and smiling at the Mansudae Art Theater in the capital Pyongyang.
The event celebrated the birthday of Kim’s late father and former leader Kim Jong Il.
Although the First Lady of the Hermit Kingdom often accompanies Kim, 36, to major public events, she has been out of the spotlight since last January, when she attended an event for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Her absence from the public eye has sparked speculation about her health and rumors that she may be pregnant.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told lawmakers on Tuesday that Ri appeared to have avoided external events to ward off the coronavirus.
Ri, who is believed to be in her 30s, has spent her time “playing well” with the couple’s three children, NIS said.
No one in the new images of the couple – released by the official newspaper of the Workers’ Party, Rodong Sinmun – wore a mask or maintained measures of social distance.
The newspaper also reported that Kim visited the Kumsusan Sun Palace, which houses the embalmed bodies of his father and grandfather, to put wreaths for the holiday, called the Day of the Bright Star.
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