AKIPRESS.COM - Kim Jong-un’s aunt has appeared in public for the first time in more than six years, ending speculation that she had been purged or executed after helping her nephew establish himself as North Korea’s leader, The Guardian reports.

The official newspaper of North Korea’s ruling party, the Rodong Sinmun, showed Kim Kyong-hui seated next to Kim and his wife, Ri Sol-ju, at a performance to mark the lunar new year at a theatre in Pyongyang on Saturday.

Her name was also mentioned in a report on the event by the KCNA state news agency.

Rumours that Kim Kyong-hui had been sidelined, or possibly executed, gained traction after her influential husband, Jang Song-thaek, was executed by firing squad for treason and corruption in December 2013.