N. Korean leader watches play, no signs of meeting with Hyundai chief

SEOUL, Aug. 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has watched a play with soldiers in a northern town, the North's media said Wednesday, suggesting Kim may not have been in Pyongyang while the chief of South Korea's Hyundai Group was visiting the capital.

The Korean Central Broadcasting Station reported that Kim watched "A Guard
Beneath a Neon Lantern" with soldiers at a theater in Hamhung, South Hamgkyong
Province.
Earlier in the day, the North's Korean Central News Agency also reported that Kim
has inspected Kim Jong Suk Naval University in the same city. The earlier report
did not say when the visit was made, but it was believed to have been on Tuesday,
considering the timing of the report.
Kim was accompanied by military top brass, such as Kim Yong-chun, Korean People's
Army (KPA) vice marshal and minister of the People's Armed Forces, Ri Yong-ho,
chief of the General Staff of the KPA, and Kim Jong-gak, first vice director of
the General Political Bureau of the KPA, the report said.
The military officials were also reported to have accompanied Kim during the
naval university inspection.
The two reports came as all eyes were on Hyun Jung-eun, the group chairwoman, as
she was visiting North Korea to negotiate the release of a detained employee.
Hyun drove through the inter-Korean border Monday at the invitation of North
Korea. A Hyundai employee, identified only by his family name of Yu, has been
detained incommunicado since late March on accusations of criticizing the North's
political system and trying to persuade a local woman to defect.
The latest report on Kim's whereabouts did not include a time element, but
suggested the leader was most likely outside Pyongyang as of Wednesday evening.
"I can't be 100 percent sure, but Kim currently seems to be in Hanhung,
considering the two consecutive reports of his visit there," said Chun Hae-sung,
spokesman for Seoul's Unification Ministry.