Mystery plaster on Kim Jong-un's head reignites speculation about North Korea leader's health

Kim Jong-un has appeared in public with a large plaster on the back of his head, sparking fresh speculation over the North Korean dictator’s health. It comes as the country faces a growing food crisis, with officials releasing emergency military rice reserves.

North Korea is in the middle of a heatwave and severe drought, which has hit crop harvests. Covid-19 has also battered the country’s economy and further cut off the isolated nation from the outside world.

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Footage from state media of Kim at a Korean People’s Army event in late July showed the 37-year-old with a plaster the size of several postage stamps affixed to the base of his skull.

According to the NK News site, there were also images from events held between July 24 and 27 in which the bandage was gone and a dark greenish spot was visible.

Kim, the third member of his family to rule over the Communist state, has long been the subject of speculation about his health. Overweight and a smoker, he has shown dramatic weight loss in recent months.

While the health of the nation's leaders is a closely guarded secret, state propaganda has often portrayed the family's apparent ailments as a sign that the Kims are so focused on their people they place their own well-being at risk.

In June, state media reported that North Korean citizens broke down in tears after seeing a dramatically thinner Kim, who had been hidden from the public eye for several weeks beforehand.

However, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) believes there have been no unusual signs regarding Kim’s health, the Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday. It cited lawmakers who had been briefed by the spy agency, adding that the plaster was removed after a few days and there was no scar.

NIS also revealed that the North’s rice reserves had been tapped. The agency told a closed-door parliamentary committee hearing that Pyongyang is supplying rice reserved for wartime to citizens with little food, other labourers and rural state agencies, according to a politician who was present.

The intelligence agency reported that the heatwave and drought had wiped out rice, corn and other crops and killed livestock and that North Korea's leadership viewed fighting the drought as "a matter of national existence".

Watch: North Korea takes a hit to its economy