Officials believe North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has recovered enough from a stroke to brush his own teeth but that sporadic spasms forced him to skip his country’s 60th anniversary celebrations, reports said.
Kim, 66, is lucid and has no trouble speaking, said high-level Chinese official who met in recent weeks with the North Korean leader in Pyongyang, the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported on Friday, citing an unidentified source in Beijing.
The South Korean government confirmed that Kim suffered a stroke but said he was recovering and remained in control of the country.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted an unnamed government official on Friday as saying the government understood Kim had recovered enough to brush his teeth on his own.
South Korean media have reported that Kim collapsed around Aug. 15. His absence from Tuesday’s anniversary ceremony intensified speculation that the leader — long believed to be suffering from diabetes and heart disease — was seriously ill.
But Seoul’s presidential Blue House said on Wednesday that Kim was not considered to be “in a serious condition.”
Kim was “recovering fast,” has no trouble communicating and speaking and was “able to stand if assisted,” South Korean ruling party lawmaker Lee Cheol-woo said in an interview on Thursday.
If he has recovered enough he could appear as early as this weekend when both Koreas mark “Chuseok,” a popular traditional holiday.
In recent years, North Korean media has carried reports around this holiday of the reclusive leader’s public activity, including his visit to a rabbit farm last year.
North Korea’s state media have made no mention of Kim’s health.
On Friday, the country’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried a lengthy editorial calling for the impoverished population to unite behind Kim, known as the “Dear Leader” or “Dear General.”
“Our dignified republic exists because Dear General exists,” the newspaper said, according to the Korean Central News Agency. “All party members and workers should further unite around the revolutionary leadership.”
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