The United States said Monday it cannot confirm rumors of a military coup in North Korea that have spread widely amid growing questions about leader Kim Jong-un’s prolonged absence from public view.

Kim has not been seen in public for nearly a month, leading to rumors that a military coup has broken out in North Korea and Kim has been arrested. Other rumors have it that Kim suffered a sort of stroke just as his late father, Kim Jong-il, did in 2008.

“I can just say that I have no confirmation of the reports. We’ve seen them, but we don’t have any confirmation,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters after a regular briefing.

She declined to discuss the issue any further. The rumors of a coup spread quickly on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.

The Global Times, run by China’s ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece the People’s Daily, carried a commentary on its edition earlier Monday, criticizing Chinese Internet users for spreading “false” rumors of a coup in Pyongyang.

North Korea is one of the most closed nations in the world, with no freedom of speech or press, and it is extremely hard to determine what is going on inside the communist nation.

Speculation has also been rife that the young leader, in his early 30s, may have a health problem, as recent video footage released by the North shows him walking with a limp. (Yonhap)