ID :
18804
Wed, 09/10/2008 - 15:26
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/18804
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea denies its leader is ill: report
(ATTN: RECASTS lead, paras 5-6 to clarify official claiming conspiracy; ADDS possible successor in last para, diplomat's comment; TRIMS)
SEOUL, Sept. 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea denied Wednesday its leader Kim Jong-il is gravely ill, claiming such speculations are part of a conspiracy, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.
"There are no problems" with the health of the 66-year-old North Korean leader, Kyodo quoted the communist state's second highest-ranking official, Kim Yong-nam, as saying in Pyongyang.
The denial by the North Korean ceremonial head of state came after Kim Jong-il
was notably absent from his country's 60th anniversary ceremony on Tuesday.
A South Korean official told Yonhap News Agency earlier Wednesday that Kim has
collapsed and is "almost certain" to be sick, while Western media
quoted U.S. officials as saying Kim may have suffered a stroke.
"While we wanted to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the country with
General Secretary Kim Jong-il, we celebrated on our own," Kim Yong-nam said.
Kyodo did not elaborate, but quoted a North Korean diplomat, Song Il-ho, as
dismissing rumors about Kim Jong-il's health as a "conspiracy plot."
"We see such reports as not only worthless, but rather as a conspiracy
plot," Song, North Korea's ambassador on normalization talks with Japan,
told Kyodo.
The reports about Kim came as North Korea, which tested a nuclear device in 2006,
has recently retreated from a six-nation denuclearization deal by threatening to
restart its nuclear reactor.
The deal, struck with South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia,
promises to remove the North from the U.S. list of terrorism sponsors, but
Pyongyang claims Washington has failed to honor its side of the pledge.
Kim has led North Korea since his father and the country's founder, Kim Il-sung,
died of a heart attack in 1994. The junior Kim has been said to be suffering from
diabetes and heart problems.
Kim has three sons, with the second oldest, Jong-chol, 26, considered the
favorite to succeed his father. Speculation has it that he has a hormonal
disorder.
SEOUL, Sept. 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea denied Wednesday its leader Kim Jong-il is gravely ill, claiming such speculations are part of a conspiracy, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.
"There are no problems" with the health of the 66-year-old North Korean leader, Kyodo quoted the communist state's second highest-ranking official, Kim Yong-nam, as saying in Pyongyang.
The denial by the North Korean ceremonial head of state came after Kim Jong-il
was notably absent from his country's 60th anniversary ceremony on Tuesday.
A South Korean official told Yonhap News Agency earlier Wednesday that Kim has
collapsed and is "almost certain" to be sick, while Western media
quoted U.S. officials as saying Kim may have suffered a stroke.
"While we wanted to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the country with
General Secretary Kim Jong-il, we celebrated on our own," Kim Yong-nam said.
Kyodo did not elaborate, but quoted a North Korean diplomat, Song Il-ho, as
dismissing rumors about Kim Jong-il's health as a "conspiracy plot."
"We see such reports as not only worthless, but rather as a conspiracy
plot," Song, North Korea's ambassador on normalization talks with Japan,
told Kyodo.
The reports about Kim came as North Korea, which tested a nuclear device in 2006,
has recently retreated from a six-nation denuclearization deal by threatening to
restart its nuclear reactor.
The deal, struck with South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia,
promises to remove the North from the U.S. list of terrorism sponsors, but
Pyongyang claims Washington has failed to honor its side of the pledge.
Kim has led North Korea since his father and the country's founder, Kim Il-sung,
died of a heart attack in 1994. The junior Kim has been said to be suffering from
diabetes and heart problems.
Kim has three sons, with the second oldest, Jong-chol, 26, considered the
favorite to succeed his father. Speculation has it that he has a hormonal
disorder.
