Video renews speculation N. Korea leader is ill

Speculation persists
South Korea’s main spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, said last month that Kim has long had heart disease and diabetes, but added that there was no sign the chronic ailments had progressed enough to affect his public activity.

“Our assessment of his health remains unchanged,” an agency official said Friday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as required by his office, also said the agency did not believe the report that Kim underwent a heart procedure. He declined to elaborate.

Some independent analysts also do not think Kim has any serious health problem.

“We can’t assess his health conditions just by pictures, but even by the pictures, he didn’t look that different from before,” said Koh Yu-hwan, a respected North Korea expert at Seoul’s Dongguk University.

“I think there is no possibility of a (health) mishap, at least in the next one year or two,” he added.

Paik Hak-soon, a top North Korea expert at Sejong Institute outside Seoul, agreed Kim looked a bit thinner and had less hair, but said he believes Kim’s health conditions are not serious enough to affect his ability to rule. “Anybody of that age has some adult diseases,” he said.

Iron fist
Kim has ruled North Korea with an iron fist since succeeding his late father, Kim Il Sung, the founder of the nation who built a personality cult that has survived his death.

The younger Kim, said to have a fondness for fine food, expensive alcoholic drinks like cognac and a passion for Western movies, has three known sons, but has not yet publicly designated any as his successor.

His health is of particular concern as international efforts led by the United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea are gaining momentum in persuading North Korea to dismantle its nuclear arsenal.

After alarming the world by conducting its first atomic test explosion in October, North Korea pledged in February to shut down its plutonium-producing nuclear reactor in exchange for economic and political concessions.

After months of delay, caused in part by snarls in resolving a financial dispute with the U.S., the regime appears to be moving to fulfill its pledge. It reached an agreement last week with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency on how to verify and monitor the planned shutdown.

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