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Thae Yong-ho and Ji Seong-ho, defectors from North Korea who were recently elected into South Korea’s National Assembly, spread false rumors about the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap News)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has resumed official public activities after a hiatus of 20 days. During his absence, two North Korean defectors who were elected to South Korea’s National Assembly in the recent parliamentary elections made the claim that Kim had died.

On May 1, Kim attended a ceremony marking the completion of work on the Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory, in North Pyongyan Province. Along with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Kim took a tour of the new factory.

It’s clear that the rumors made about Kim’s health, which brazenly ignored the South Korean government’s reports that there were no unusual signs in the North, were fallacious propaganda. The astonishing thing is that very people who spread such “fake news” are still clinging to their story by claiming we can’t be certain that Kim doesn’t have health problems.

Information about Kim Jong-un’s health and safety should be handled carefully, given their ability to galvanize global attention. That’s why it’s essential for information to be strictly vetted for accuracy. But after Kim failed to pay his respects at the birth anniversary of his grandfather Kim Il-sung on Apr. 15, news websites about North Korea, conservative YouTubers, and newspapers both in South Korea and other countries made irresponsible claims citing anonymous sources.

Those claims proved groundless. The rumors were sparked on Apr. 20 when news website the Daily NK reported that Kim Jong-un had undergone a cardiovascular procedure at Hyangsan Hospital, in North Pyongan Province, on Apr. 12, and was being treated at a villa. Foreign media such as CNN and NBC soon piled on, reporting that Kim Jong-un was in grave danger.

The South Korean government convened the standing committee of its National Security Council, which stated several times that there were no “unusual signs” in the North, but some conservative newspapers criticized the government and pushed it to prepare for unexpected events in the North. The domestic and foreign press need to reflect upon how they sowed chaos and humiliated themselves through their indiscriminate reporting.

The behavior of Ji Seong-ho and Thae Yong-ho, both North Korean defectors who were elected to the National Assembly on Apr. 15, exhibited an extreme degree of irresponsibility. Despite the government’s repeated denials, the two lawmakers took the lead in stirring up speculation. Thae said that Kim can’t “walk properly” in an interview with CNN, while Ji flatly said there was a 99% chance that Kim was dead.

Despite their claims having been proven false, Ji and Thae are still brazenly asserting that it’s too soon to draw any conclusions about Kim’s health. Just because someone defected from North Korea doesn’t give them the right to pretend to be an expert on the North. If anything, such people ought to be more careful about verifying their information about the North.

One of the responsibilities of a lawmaker is distinguishing one’s hopes from reality. Ji and Thae need to apologize candidly for spreading false information. It’s also a shame that the United Future Party released a statement bizarrely describing this as “an opportunity to restore trust in the government and intelligence agencies. The party ought to be focusing on teaching its two new lawmakers about the gravity of their words.

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]