NORTH KOREAN leader Kim Jong Un hosted a banquet for athletes who won gold medals at the recent Asian Games in South Korea, state media said yesterday, marking his third public appearance in a week after an extended absence.

    Kim praised the medalists for proving “the validity and vitality of the party’s plan for building a sports powerhouse,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

    The celebratory banquet, believed to have been held Saturday, was also attended by Kim’s wife as well as senior military, party and government officials, KCNA said.

    Kim resurfaced earlier this week after dropping out of the public eye for nearly six weeks — an unexplained absence that triggered frenzied speculation about his health and his grip on power.

    Photographs from his first appearance, believed to have been on Monday, showed him using a walking stick, backing up reports that his disappearance was the result of a leg injury or condition.

    On Friday, the ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun ran front page pictures of Kim inspecting two high-rise apartment complexes built for faculty members of a university specializing in nuclear research.

    Since assuming power after the death of his father Kim Jong Il in 2011, Kim Jong Un has cut a very public figure, with state media showing him engaged in a seemingly endless series of field guidance trips across the country.

    South Korea said Thursday it would pay more than 70 percent of the US$700,000 costs incurred by North Korea when it took part in the Asian Games in Incheon.

    (SD-Agencies)