Kim Jong-il Had Surgery After Stroke, South Koreans Say

[tekisui]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/world/asia/11korea.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

SEOUL, South Korea — Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s leader, had surgery after suffering a stroke in mid-August, South Korean lawmakers told reporters on Wednesday after a briefing by the South’s spy agency. But they said he had recovered enough to walk and talk.

On Tuesday, Mr. Kim failed to attend a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of North Korea. American intelligence officials in Washington said that he had probably had a stroke several weeks ago and that they believed that he was under the care of doctors in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.

Kim Sung-ho, the South’s spy chief, told the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee that the surgery following the stroke was not the first time the leader had had an operation for a circulatory problem, the lawmakers said. There was no sign of unrest in the North, they were told.

Meanwhile, the North has denied the reports that Mr. Kim was ill. “We see such reports as not only worthless, but rather as a conspiracy plot,” the Kyodo news agency quoted Song Il-ho, a senior North Korean diplomat, as saying.

The country’s No. 2 leader, Kim Yong-nam, said there was “no problem” with the leader, Kyodo reported.

Kim Jong-il’s health is a topic of intense interest among governments and security experts, especially because Western officials are unclear about who would succeed the man known as the “Dear Leader.”

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[Ian David]

1. Kim Jung Il is fine...