ID :
27110
Tue, 10/28/2008 - 18:58
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/27110
The shortlink copeid
N. Korean leader well enough to get back to work: intelligence chief
By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il appears to be quickly recovering from a stroke he reportedly suffered and is well enough to resume his ordinary duties, South Korea's intelligence chief was quoted as saying Tuesday.
North Korea's high-profile leader has been absent from the public eye since Aug.
14, with foreign doctors reportedly entering the country that month to conduct a
medical operation. The communist state has been denying reports of its leader's
illness.
The outside world, including Seoul and Washington, has been keenly interested in
the 66-year-old leader's health due to his country's ongoing nuclear ambitions.
"Although not completely fit, he appears well enough to perform his daily
duties," National Intelligence Service Director Kim Sung-ho was quoted as saying
by opposition party lawmaker Park Young-sun during a closed-door parliamentary
session.
"We also believe Kim's eldest son made a trip to France last week," the
intelligence chief added, concerning recent reports that Kim Jung-nam visited
Paris to meet a neurosurgeon for his ailing father.
The two Koreas, divided and technically still at war, are both members of the
six-party nuclear disarmament talks, aimed at denuclearizing the North in return
for economic aid.
Concerns over Kim's health ran especially high after Pyongyang began to backtrack
from a multinational aid-for-denuclearization deal, halting disablement of its
main nuclear reactor in mid-August.
The issue took a positive turn earlier this month as North Korea said it will
resume the nuclear disarmament process, hours after Washington removed it from a
list of terrorism sponsoring states.
Under the deal signed by the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United
States, the impoverished North will be receiving up to one million tons of oil
aid in return for fully abandoning its nuclear programs.
Seoul's intelligence chief added that propaganda leaflets dropped across the
border by South Korean activists may "pose a threat" to the North Korean regime.
Families of South Koreans abducted by North Korea and activists released balloons
carrying 40,000 anti-communist leaflets Monday near the inter-Korean border,
ignoring government requests for them to refrain.
North Korea has been threatening to expel more South Koreans working in the North
and take other "grave action" if Seoul does not prevent its activists from
dropping the fliers.
"The government has not much control over the issue," he said. "I believe the
leaflets could be of threat to North Korea as they manifest some stark realities
in the North."
The issue has added to the tension between Pyongyang and Seoul's conservative,
pro-Washington Lee Myung-bak government, inaugurated in February. Taking a harder
line than his liberal predecessors, Lee has been firm on linking aid and economic
assistance to the North with its denuclearization process.
SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il appears to be quickly recovering from a stroke he reportedly suffered and is well enough to resume his ordinary duties, South Korea's intelligence chief was quoted as saying Tuesday.
North Korea's high-profile leader has been absent from the public eye since Aug.
14, with foreign doctors reportedly entering the country that month to conduct a
medical operation. The communist state has been denying reports of its leader's
illness.
The outside world, including Seoul and Washington, has been keenly interested in
the 66-year-old leader's health due to his country's ongoing nuclear ambitions.
"Although not completely fit, he appears well enough to perform his daily
duties," National Intelligence Service Director Kim Sung-ho was quoted as saying
by opposition party lawmaker Park Young-sun during a closed-door parliamentary
session.
"We also believe Kim's eldest son made a trip to France last week," the
intelligence chief added, concerning recent reports that Kim Jung-nam visited
Paris to meet a neurosurgeon for his ailing father.
The two Koreas, divided and technically still at war, are both members of the
six-party nuclear disarmament talks, aimed at denuclearizing the North in return
for economic aid.
Concerns over Kim's health ran especially high after Pyongyang began to backtrack
from a multinational aid-for-denuclearization deal, halting disablement of its
main nuclear reactor in mid-August.
The issue took a positive turn earlier this month as North Korea said it will
resume the nuclear disarmament process, hours after Washington removed it from a
list of terrorism sponsoring states.
Under the deal signed by the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United
States, the impoverished North will be receiving up to one million tons of oil
aid in return for fully abandoning its nuclear programs.
Seoul's intelligence chief added that propaganda leaflets dropped across the
border by South Korean activists may "pose a threat" to the North Korean regime.
Families of South Koreans abducted by North Korea and activists released balloons
carrying 40,000 anti-communist leaflets Monday near the inter-Korean border,
ignoring government requests for them to refrain.
North Korea has been threatening to expel more South Koreans working in the North
and take other "grave action" if Seoul does not prevent its activists from
dropping the fliers.
"The government has not much control over the issue," he said. "I believe the
leaflets could be of threat to North Korea as they manifest some stark realities
in the North."
The issue has added to the tension between Pyongyang and Seoul's conservative,
pro-Washington Lee Myung-bak government, inaugurated in February. Taking a harder
line than his liberal predecessors, Lee has been firm on linking aid and economic
assistance to the North with its denuclearization process.
