The United States has seen no definitive indications that power in North Korea has shifted from leader Kim Jong-un, White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice said Sunday, amid speculation surrounding Kim’s prolonged absence from public view.

Kim has not been seen in public for more than a month, including Friday’s national events marking the founding of the North’s Workers’ Party, spurring speculation and rumors ranging from health problems to a military coup.

“Obviously we’re watching very carefully what’s happening in North Korea. It’s a country that we monitor with great attention,”

Rice said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We have not seen any indications of a transfer of power at this point that we view as definitive. But we’ll continue to watch it carefully.”

On Friday, the National Security Council of the White House also said that rumors of a coup appeared to be “false.”

Nonetheless, however, questions still abound over the whereabouts of the reclusive nation’s leader and the status of his grip on power.

Kim became leader after his father Kim Jong-il died in late 2011. Officials and analysts have said Kim has since consolidated power. The young leader even executed his uncle Jang Song-thaek last year, accusing him of treason. (Yonhap)