Portal
Home
Calendar
Gallery
FAQ
Search
Register
Log inReport: N. Korea officials deny leader Kim is ill
Page 1 of 1•
Report: N. Korea officials deny leader Kim is ill
by Outspoken on Wed Sep 10, 2008 5:53 am
Report: N. Korea officials deny leader Kim is ill
By JAE-SOON CHANG
Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea denied Wednesday that leader Kim Jong Il is seriously ill, granting a foreign news outlet rare interviews with top officials who dismissed reports questioning Kim's health following his absence from a key ceremony.
Speculation has intensified that Kim may have taken ill after he missed a parade Tuesday commemorating the communist state's founding 60 years ago. That followed weeks of absence from public view and rumors that foreign doctors were brought in to the isolated nation to possibly treat him.
On Wednesday, North Korea's No. 2 leader and ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong Nam, said there is "no problem" with the supreme leader, and senior diplomat Song Il Ho also said reports about Kim Jong Il's health are "not true," according to Japan's Kyodo News agency.
"We see such reports as not only worthless, but rather as a conspiracy plot," Song told Kyodo in what the agency said was North Korea's first reaction to the reports. "Western media have reported falsehoods before," he said, according to the report from Pyongyang.
It was not the first time North Korea sent a message to the outside world through Kyodo. Kim Yong Nam also gave the news organization an interview two days after North Korea carried out its first-ever nuclear test blast in 2006.
In another indication that the North's leader is alive, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said Kim sent a birthday greeting Wednesday to Syria's leader.
Kim wished Syrian President Bashar Assad good health and success in efforts to make the country secure and prosperous, according to the Korean-language message carried by KCNA.
South Korea's main spy agency reported to a parliamentary committee that Kim suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, but he remains conscious and "is able to control the situation," Seoul's Yonhap news agency said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080910/ap_on_re_as/nkorea_kim_jong_il;_ylt=AuBcQkvBTjluOP31Desoc12s0NUE
By JAE-SOON CHANG
Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea denied Wednesday that leader Kim Jong Il is seriously ill, granting a foreign news outlet rare interviews with top officials who dismissed reports questioning Kim's health following his absence from a key ceremony.
Speculation has intensified that Kim may have taken ill after he missed a parade Tuesday commemorating the communist state's founding 60 years ago. That followed weeks of absence from public view and rumors that foreign doctors were brought in to the isolated nation to possibly treat him.
On Wednesday, North Korea's No. 2 leader and ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong Nam, said there is "no problem" with the supreme leader, and senior diplomat Song Il Ho also said reports about Kim Jong Il's health are "not true," according to Japan's Kyodo News agency.
"We see such reports as not only worthless, but rather as a conspiracy plot," Song told Kyodo in what the agency said was North Korea's first reaction to the reports. "Western media have reported falsehoods before," he said, according to the report from Pyongyang.
It was not the first time North Korea sent a message to the outside world through Kyodo. Kim Yong Nam also gave the news organization an interview two days after North Korea carried out its first-ever nuclear test blast in 2006.
In another indication that the North's leader is alive, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said Kim sent a birthday greeting Wednesday to Syria's leader.
Kim wished Syrian President Bashar Assad good health and success in efforts to make the country secure and prosperous, according to the Korean-language message carried by KCNA.
South Korea's main spy agency reported to a parliamentary committee that Kim suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, but he remains conscious and "is able to control the situation," Seoul's Yonhap news agency said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080910/ap_on_re_as/nkorea_kim_jong_il;_ylt=AuBcQkvBTjluOP31Desoc12s0NUE
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
