By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il remained out of the public eye Monday, a day after Koreans marked one of their largest traditional holidays, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

Japan's Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, meanwhile, said Kim's illness was far more serious than reported and that he was unable to govern the nation, while the Kyodo News Agency reported Kim has difficulty using his arms and legs after suffering a stroke and undergoing surgery performed by Chinese doctors last month.

Those reports contrast with the remarks by a South Korean official last week that Kim, 66, has recovered enough to brush his own teeth.

Hwang Jang-yop, a former secretary of the North Korean Workers' Party, said even if Kim dies, the North will not be thrown into chaos, a Seoul-based Web site www.chogabje.com reported.

Asked about possible political upheaval in the North, Hwang was quoted as saying said China would not sit idle.

Some media have speculated that Kim might use Chuseok, Korea's Thanksgiving Day, to end public misgivings about his health. In previous years, he has made regular appearances during the holiday.

But the North's state news agency has so far given no reports on Kim's public activity over the long weekend, Yonhap said.

The North's media has only provided reports on his non-public activities. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said Kim received a gift from a delegation from Myanmar and sent a birthday greeting to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev over the weekend, according to Yonhap.

Kim, who is believed to be recovering from a stroke, began losing consciousness at work in April and could not properly manage state affairs, the Mainichi reported Sunday.

Quoting an unidentified ``reliable'' Chinese source, the Japanese daily said Kim's worsened health condition impaired his judgment on important policy matters, including decisions related to the six-party talks with five other regional powers on the regime's nuclear weapons program.

The Japanese newspaper said Kim's health problems were apparently behind the lack of flexibility in North Korea's recent attitude toward the six-party denuclearization talks, which have been in a stalemate over ways to verify the North's declaration on its nuclear programs in June.

Pyongyang announced Aug. 26 that it had suspended the disablement of the Yongbyon main nuclear facility, blaming the United States for failing to remove the regime from a U.S. terrorism-sponsor blacklist.

The United States and five other participating nations in the six-party talks regard the North Korean move as a violation of the Feb. 13 disarmament-for-aid agreement reached last year.

Kim, often called ``Dear Leader'' by North Koreans, had been making all decisions on the country's nuclear policy, and after his health worsened there was no one who could make major diplomatic moves, the source was quoted as saying.

The report said Kim had first complained of problems with multiple organs, including his heart and kidneys, in the summer of last year and his condition gradually deteriorated.

Japan's Asahi Shimbun said Kim underwent heart surgery performed by a team of German doctors in late April 2007.

The absence of the North Korean leader from celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the country's founding last week triggered a frenzy of speculation.

Amid a swirl of reports over Kim's health problems, South Korea's National Intelligence Service said that Kim had suffered a stroke but was still capable of running the country.


gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr