Amid Authenticity Dispute, Kim Jong-il Makes Brisk Inspections

Amid some speculation that the Kim Jong-il that the former U.S. President Bill Clinton met this summer was a fake, the identity-disputed leader of the world’s most reclusive country made a series of brisk inspections to a newly constructed power plant and a farm in the southern area of the country, along with Workers' Party officials, Yonhap reported, citing the state's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

During the visit to North Korea's South Hamgyeong Province, Kim congratulated laborers who participated in building the power station, and urged farmers to improve farming technologies to resolve the ongoing food shortage in the country, the KCNA said, not identifying the date when this took place.

KCNA said Kim was accompanied by Workers' Party officials, including his only brother-in-law Jang Song-thaek, who is a department director of the Party, and Kim Ki-nam, a secretary of the Party. A few days earlier, KCNA said Kim paid a visit to a construction site to encourage workers.

Recently, Toshimitsu Shigemura, a Japanese journalist-turned professor claimed that North Korea is using a “double” to play the role of Kim Jong-il for its domestic and international audience, claiming the real Kim died in 2003.

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