Report: Kim Jong Un makes his first public appearance in North Korea in 6 weeks

(Image credit: Twitter.com/passantino)

last updated 8 January 2015

North Korean state media is reporting that Kim Jong Un made his first public appearance in six weeks early Tuesday, visiting the Natural Energy Institute of the State Academy of Sciences and a residential district, where he "gave field guidance."

Kim had not been seen in public since Sept. 3, when he went to a concert with his wife. If this visit is confirmed, it ends Kim's longest period spent out of the public eye since succeeding his late father in 2011.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.