WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The U.S. government extended good wishes Wednesday to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un upon reports that he is married, but put more emphasis on the well-being of the communist nation's people, straddled with hunger and human rights violations.
"Well, we've obviously seen the reports. We would always wish any kind of newlyweds, you know, well as they embark," State Department's spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said at a press briefing.
She was responding to a question about whether U.S. officials were invited to the wedding of the North's new leader, believed to be in his late 20s.
Hours earlier, the North's state media confirmed a woman, Ri Sol-ju, who accompanied Kim in recent public events, to be his wife.
It was highly unusual for the secretive regime to disclose its leader's private life.
Nuland added, "But obviously our concerns first and foremost are for the North Korean people and our hope that conditions for them will improve and that the new DPRK leadership will make the right choice about opening the country and providing more for their people."
DPRK is the acronym for North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.