Kim Jong-un has not been seen in public for 35 days, it is reported as North Korea prepares a military parade to mark its 75th anniversary.
The North Korean leader missed a third Politburo meeting on Sunday where top officials were discussing the country’s major agricultural problems, according to state media.
While it is not unusual for Kim to go periods without being seen in public, 35 days is reportedly his second longest period ever.
And it comes as the army along with members of the public have been preparing in freezing temperatures for the parade this week, which could start on Tuesday night or Wednesday, with February 8 marking 75 years since the Korean People’s Army was formed.
There is speculation that Kim has been keeping out of the limelight to prepare for what is expected to be a massive ceremony and it is based on the fact that last year he was seen micromanaging a military parade in April.
This is only the third time that Kim has missed Politburo meetings with the other two in June and September last year, reports NK News.
Rules were changed in January 2021 which allowed the Politburo meetings to still go ahead without Kim as long as he gave his authorisation.
His current absence from public view matches the 35 days at the end of 2021 and the only longer spell was 40 days in 2014.
Preparations for the 75th anniversary have included aircraft flying at low altitude over the capital Pyongyang.
Multiple jets, lit up and carrying flares, were seen heading in the direction of Kim ll Sung Square - suggesting that the parade might take at night.
The parades comes amid tensions riding high between North Korea and the US along with its western allies.
North Korea said last Thursday it was prepared to counter US military moves with the “most overwhelming nuclear force”. it warned that the expansion of the United States’ military exercises with rival South Korea is pushing tensions to an “extreme red line.”
Kim could showcase his growing arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles at the military parade in Pyongyang.
Experts say Kim’s nuclear push is aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of North Korea as a nuclear power so it can negotiate badly needed economic concessions from a position of strength.
Nuclear negotiations between the US and North Korea stopped in 2019 because of disagreements over a relaxation of US-led economic sanctions against the North in exchange for steps by North Korea to wind down its nuclear weapons and missiles programmes.
