North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s surprise day trip to the Chinese border city of Dandong came amid rumors claiming he had died after suffering a severe brain hemorrhage. Unlike in 2020, when similar claims made international headlines, mainstream media outlets remained cautious this time. Journalists appear to have learned a bitter lesson from the disastrous media coverage six years ago. At the time, some outlets reported Kim’s death based on a high-profile North Korean defector’s claim that he was “99 percent certain” that the leader had died. Days later, Kim appeared in public, debunking the reports. The erroneous reports significantly eroded public trust in the media. When viewers and readers lose confidence in what the media reports, news organizations pay the price. The 2020 debacle has since served as a cautionary tale about the importance of evidence-based journalism, reminding journalists to double- and triple-check their sources and assess their credibility before publishing unverified claims. While journalists were cautious about the latest rumors, the public was not