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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presides over a Workers’ Party of Korea politburo meeting in Pyongyang on Apr. 11. (Yonhap News)

South Korea’s stock market took a nose dive on Tuesday following an unexpected news report claiming that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was in critical condition. The shock didn’t subside until a Blue House spokesperson declared around noon that “no special signs have been detected so far inside North Korea.”

The speculation about Kim’s health problems originated in an exclusive report printed on the evening of Apr. 20 by the Daily NK, a news website specializing in North Korea. Citing a source inside North Korea, the website said that Kim had undergone heart surgery at Hyangsan Hospital in North Pyongyang Province, a facility that “is exclusively for the use of by the Kim family,” on Apr. 12, one day after Kim presided over a meeting of the politburo of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK). At the moment, the news website said, Kim is “under the care of doctors at the Hyang San Villa, which is near the hospital.”

On the morning of Apr. 21, CNN stirred up the rumors about Kim’s health in an article titled “US monitoring intelligence that North Korean leader is in grave danger after surgery,” which quoted “a US official with direct knowledge.” But despite the sensational phrasing in the title about Kim being in “grave danger,” the article only cites intelligence to that effect, without confirming its accuracy.

When the CNN article started to spread online at 10:40 am, the KOSPI, which had been holding steady after a mild decline, abruptly plunged 55 points. Stock prices were buoyed somewhat by the government’s announcement at noon, which amounted to an effective denial of the rumors, and by last-minute buying by pension funds. The index ended the day down 19 points.

The rumors of Kim’s poor health have been fueled by his lack of public appearance for the 10 days following the WPK politburo meeting on Apr. 11. Furthermore, Kim was a no-show at a ceremony at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun marking the birth anniversary of his grandfather and North Korean founder, Kim Il-sung, on Apr. 15. That was the first time he’d missed the ceremony since taking power in 2012.

But multiple high-ranking officials in the South Korean government said that, as far as they knew, the rumors weren’t accurate and Kim appeared to be going about his normal activities. Blue House Spokesperson Kang Min-seok even sent out a text message to reporters stating that “no special signs have been detected so far inside North Korea.”

In addition, Kim has reportedly been staying at Wonsan since hosting the politburo meeting, which conflicts with the Daily NK’s claim that Kim underwent an operation at Hyangsan Hospital.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer, and Seong Yeon-cheol and Choi Hyun-june, staff reporters

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