WASHINGTON/SEOUL (REUTERS) - A special train possibly belonging to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was spotted this week at a resort town in the country, according to satellite images reviewed by a Washington-based North Korea monitoring project, amid conflicting reports about Mr Kim's health and whereabouts.

The monitoring project, 38 North, said in its report on Saturday (April 25) that the train was parked at the "leadership station" in Wonsan on Tuesday and Thursday.

The station is reserved for the use of the Kim family, it said.

Though the group said it was probably Mr Kim's train, Reuters has not been able to confirm that independently, or whether he was in Wonsan.

"The train's presence does not prove the whereabouts of the North Korean leader or indicate anything about his health but it does lend weight to reports that Kim is staying at an elite area on the country's eastern coast," the report said.

Speculation about Mr Kim's health first arose due to his absence from the anniversary of the birthday of North Korea's founding father and his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, on April 15.

North Korea's state media last reported on Mr Kim's whereabouts when he presided over a meeting on April 11.

China has dispatched a team to North Korea including medical experts to advise on Mr Kim, according to three people familiar with the situation.

A third-generation hereditary leader who came to power after his father's death in 2011, Mr Kim has no clear successor in a nuclear-armed country, which could present major international risk.

On Thursday, United States President Donald Trump downplayed reports that Mr Kim was ill.

"I think the report was incorrect," Mr Trump told reporters, but he declined to say if he had been in touch with North Korean officials.

Mr Trump has met Mr Kim three times in an attempt to persuade him to give up a nuclear weapons programme that threatens the United States as well as its Asian neighbours. While talks have stalled, Mr Trump has continued to hail Mr Kim as a friend.

REPORTS AND CONTROLS

Reporting from inside North Korea is notoriously difficult because of tight controls on information.

A Trump administration official said continuing days of North Korean media silence on Mr Kim's whereabouts had heightened concerns about his condition, and that information remained scant from a country US intelligence has long regarded as a "black box".

The US State Department did not immediately respond to questions about the situation on Saturday.

Daily NK, a Seoul-based website that reports on North Korea, cited one unnamed source in North Korea on Monday as saying that Mr Kim had undergone medical treatment in the resort county of Hyangsan north of the capital Pyongyang.

It said that he was recovering after undergoing a cardiovascular procedure on April 12.

Since then, multiple South Korean media reports have cited unnamed sources this week saying that he might be staying in the Wonsan area.

On Friday, local news agency Newsis cited South Korean intelligence sources as reporting that a special train for Mr Kim's use had been seen in Wonsan, while his private plane remained in Pyongyang.

Newsis reported he may be sheltering from Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Mr Kim, believed to be 36, has disappeared from coverage in North Korean state media before. In 2014, he vanished for more than a month and North Korean state TV later showed him walking with a limp.

Speculation about his health has been fanned by his heavy smoking, apparent weight gain since taking power and family history of cardiovascular problems.