Kim Jong Un Visits China After False Death Rumors, Meets Wang Huning

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made an unannounced one-day visit to the Chinese border city of Dandong on Oct. 24, days after unsubstantiated rumors circulated online claiming he had died of a brain hemorrhage.

China’s fourth-ranking official, Wang Huning, accompanied Kim during the visit, which highlighted renewed efforts by Beijing and Pyongyang to expand political and economic cooperation. South Korea’s intelligence agency had dismissed the death rumors as false the previous day.

Kim visits Dandong with senior Chinese official

According to Xinhua, Wang, a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee and chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, greeted Kim at a memorial to Chinese soldiers who fought in the 1950–1953 Korean War. Kim laid flowers beneath an inscription reading, “The martyrs of the Chinese People’s Volunteers are always remembered.”

North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), as reported by Yonhap, said Kim praised the countries’ “invincible friendship forged in blood” and attended a banquet hosted by Wang on behalf of Chinese President Xi Jinping. China’s foreign ministry said Wang conveyed Xi’s greetings and urged stronger trade and diplomatic coordination.

Kim also toured an automobile factory before returning to North Korea via the New Yalu River Bridge, which connects Dandong with Sinuiju. The approximately three-kilometer bridge opened on Oct. 15 after years of delays. Its opening is expected to ease a major bottleneck in cross-border commerce.

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“Kim has given his imprimatur to bilateral trade,” Christopher Green, a Korea specialist at Leiden University, told Reuters, referring to Kim’s decision to cross the new bridge. The trip followed Kim’s September 2025 meeting with Xi in Beijing and Xi’s visit to North Korea in June 2026.

Death rumors coincide with website disruptions

Unverified claims about Kim’s death spread on overseas social media earlier in October. The allegations, circulated by U.S.-based Chinese dissident Xie Wanjun, asserted that Kim had suffered a brain hemorrhage and died after being taken to a hospital in Beijing. No evidence was produced to support the story.

North Korean state media subsequently released photographs of Kim and his daughter, Ju Ae, attending a clothing and footwear exhibition in Pyongyang on Oct. 19. On Oct. 23, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told lawmakers it had assessed the death reports as false, according to Yonhap. The agency had previously described Kim as facing cardiovascular health risks due to severe obesity but showing no notable signs of serious illness.

Separately, 42 North Korean government and media websites, including KCNA and the foreign ministry’s website, suffered intermittent outages beginning Oct. 20. South Korean broadcaster SBS reported that access had stabilized by the evening of Oct. 21, after approximately 32 hours of disruption.

The cause remains undetermined. Experts cited possible telecommunications or power-supply problems, while a cyberattack had not been ruled out. A South Korean Unification Ministry official noted, “There are often cases where North Korean websites are down for about two days,” adding, “There is nothing we can confirm regarding the cause.” No evidence links the outages to Kim’s health or a leadership transition.

Speculation persists, but economic ties offer a clearer explanation

Kim’s appearance in China prompted further social-media speculation about his health and possible succession arrangements, but neither government announced any medical or succession-related discussions. His itinerary and official statements instead emphasized the Korean War alliance and economic cooperation.

Lu Chao, a North Korea specialist at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told Reuters that the new bridge would facilitate trade. “With the logistics constraint eased, bilateral trade is likely to increase further,” he said. China remains North Korea’s principal trading partner and a crucial diplomatic supporter despite Pyongyang’s deepening military ties with Russia.

Concerns about an eventual succession remain a separate issue. “North Korea does not have a stable successor in place,” Kim Jae-chun, a professor at Sogang University, told the Korea JoongAng Daily, explaining why rumors about Kim’s health repeatedly draw attention. His observation did not establish that any transition is underway.