[Courtesy of Xinhua]
Choe Ryong-hae, once seen as North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's right-hand man, has resumed his public activities, ending his three-month absence which once fuelled wild rumours about his status.
Choi, a secretary of the ruling Worker's Party of (North) Korea, was among a group of North Korean officials who accompanied Kim during his "field guidance" at a newly built museum, according to a report Wednesday by Pyongyang's state media.
Choe, who once visited Beijing as Kim's special envoy, was last seen in public three months ago, and South Korean media reports suggested that he might have been purged and sent to a rural farm for punishment and re-education for his mishandling of a newly built hydroelectric power plant project.
South Korea's unification ministry, which is in charge of inter-Korean affairs, declined to comment, but Choe's whereabouts have been closely watched since he was omitted from a list of top officials selected for the North's state funeral for a military marshal in early November.
Choe's name was listed again among members of North Korea's state funeral committee for Kim Yang-gon, a senior party secretary handling inter-Korean affairs, who died in a car accident in late December. But he had not been featured in state media
Under Kim's reign of terror that began in late 2011 when he took over from his late father, a number of senior North Korean officials have been purged, including his uncle and former mentor, Jang Song-thaek.
Kim has earned a reputation for ruthlessness following Jang's brutal execution, but Choe's comeback prompted suggestions the leader may be rolling back a purge.
Charles Lim
아주경제 임장원 기자 = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
