North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has suffered a stroke but will recover, South Korea’s intelligence agency told parliament yesterday, a lawmaker said.
Legislator Won Hye-young quoted an intelligence official as telling a closed session that Kim had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, which caused the stroke, but is in “recoverable condition.”
The 66-year-old leader is not fit to appear in public but remains conscious and able to lead the country, Won quoted the National Intelligence Service (NIS) official as saying.
The agency believes there will be no power vacuum in the communist state because Kim can recover his health, Won said.
It was not clear when he suffered the stroke.
An NIS spokeswoman could not immediately confirm the remarks, saying the parliamentary briefing was not yet over.
Kim failed to appear at a major parade on Tuesday to celebrate the nation’s 60th anniversary. US and South Korean officials said he may have suffered a stroke.
The North’s de facto head of state, Kim Yong-nam, was quoted by Japan’s Kyodo News as saying in Pyongyang there is “no problem” with the top leader’s condition.
But he appeared to indicate that Kim Jong-il’s absence from the parade was unscheduled.
“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 was quoted as saying.
The agency said there were no signs of concern in the city, with families strolling and visiting food stalls.
Official media said Kim Jong-il yesterday sent a congratulatory birthday telegram to his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad.
An unidentified Seoul government official told Yonhap news agency earlier that Kim had undergone surgery after the stroke but his condition is not life-threatening.
“It seems that he had intended to attend the Sept. 9 event in the afternoon but decided not to because of the aftermath of the surgery,” the official said.
Kim is known to suffer from diabetes and heart problems and there have been several reports in the past of him receiving treatment.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak called an emergency meeting of top aides to discuss the situation.
Presidential spokesman Lee Dong-Kwan said that the government had been analyzing intelligence for some time and had anticipated that Kim would be absent from the parade on Tuesday.
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