Rodong Sinmun released a series of photographs on May 28, 2026 that show Kim Jong Un in a bright‑pink dress, inspecting a pink shoe at a garment and footwear exhibition in Pyongyang. The shots, taken at the state‑owned Hall of the Workers’ Party, depict the leader leaning forward, his eyes fixed on the tiny footwear while aides cluster around him.
These images appeared just hours after Wanjun Xie, a US‑based Chinese dissident linked to the China Democracy Party, posted on X that the 42‑year‑old leader had died of a brain haemorrhage and was being rushed to Beijing. Xie claimed that 9,000 troops had been dispatched from China to Pyongyang, that a team from Peking Union Medical College Hospital was treating him, and that his body would be secretly returned to North Korea.
Xie’s narrative, which alleged a coma and a clandestine transfer of the body, was never corroborated; no witnesses or independent evidence surfaced, and the claims were circulated without any verifiable documents.
The death rumor echoes a 2020 incident in which Ji Seong‑ho, a North Korean defector turned South Korean lawmaker, asserted Kim had died after heart surgery, only to apologize after Kim was seen alive at a state event.
The North Korean authorities have dismissed the allegations, stating that the exhibition footage confirms the leader’s continued rule and that there is no imminent succession crisis. The ruling Workers’ Party has reaffirmed that Kim Jong Un remains the undisputed head of state.