North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is on the mend from an apparent stroke, a South Korean official said today, with no signs he has lost his grip over a country that possibly has nuclear weapons.
Kim can stand up with assistance and is able to communicate, a South Korean lawmaker said after a meeting with his country's spy chief, who knocked down reports in the local media that the enigmatic North Korean leader was partially paralysed.
"He's had circulatory problems but had treatment and now doesn't have problem communicating," ruling party lawmaker Lee Cheol-woo told a radio programme. "Kim is recovering quickly."
Kim (66) has led communist North Korea for 14 years, under which the reclusive state has seen its anaemic economy shrink, its ballistic missile arsenal swell and UN sanctions imposed due to its nuclear programme and first atomic test two years ago.
Another intelligence source said Kim remains in power.
South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo cited an intelligence source as saying Kim had a stroke about August 15th and was treated by a group of visiting foreign doctors.
South Korea has spotted no unusual troop movements in the North and the Defence Ministry said it had no plans for now to raise the level of its readiness.
Kim's brush with serious illness has caused South Korea to re-examine contingency plans for possible change in a neighbour that has one of the world's largest standing armies and can fire missiles capable of reaching all of the Korean peninsula and most of Japan.
His death would create huge uncertainty over leadership in a deeply paranoid state that has threatened to reduce the capitalist South to ashes and calls Japan and the United States mortal enemies.
The mystery surrounding Kim leaves a frightening question for South Korea, for which a worst-case scenario would be a collapse of the North, with 23 million people and a broken economy.
A parliamentary study released a year ago said the South will need to spend about $1 trillion or more to renovate the North's dilapidated infrastructure, which could wreck Asia's fourth-largest economy. Seoul would also have to brace for a flood of refugees flowing out of the North.
"The latest incident proves that this scenario is no longer a distant prospect but an unavoidable reality we may have to face right now," South Korea's largest newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, said in an editorial.
In a development that could crank tension yet higher, North Korea is nearing completion of a missile test site capable of shooting off long-range rockets, US broadcaster CNN cited analysts as saying.
Kim has fallen ill as the North seems to be backing away from a nuclear disarmament deal and analysts say progress would almost certainly founder in the event of a leadership struggle.
"My first inclination is that it will go to a hunker down mode and not pursue a breakthrough or a breakdown," said Peter Beck, an expert in Korean affairs at American University in Washington.
"I would be surprised if they broke the deal. They would only do that if that felt that they really needed to rally the public."
Kim's health and possible successor are two of Pyongyang's most closely guarded secrets.
Kim, whom state media calls the Dear Leader and has three known sons, was groomed for years to succeed his father and the North's founding president Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994.
During his time in power, Kim Jong-il has crushed dissent and placed an enormous distance between himself and any potential rival, which means there is no clear heir.
In the Chinese city of Dandong which borders North Korea, residents remain focused on eking business out of the poor, isolated country at its doorstep, some members of the public are surprisingly blunt about Kim.
"In one way, it would be good if it was true and he died, said Dandong businessman Zhou Ping. "They (North Koreans) are so poor."
Reuters