South Korea's unification minister on Tuesday dismissed a local media report on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un having undergoing surgery at the North's Hyangsan Hospital as "fake news."

Speaking at the National Assembly, unification minister Kim Yeon-chul said it was "hard to accept" reports from the Seoul-based Daily NK that a doctor from the DPRK's Kim Man Yoo Hospital had been involved in "either procedure or surgery" on Kim Jong Un.