There is Something Clearly Wrong With North Korea's Kim Jong-il

The state media released pictures show Kim Jong-il visiting a female military unit Photo: EPA

Kim Jong-il Photos Raise Suspicions That He Is Ill
-- The Telegraph

The release of photographs of North Korea's leader on state media on Saturday have heightened belief that Kim Jong-il is seriously ill and possibly losing his grip on the reclusive state.

North Korea's KCNA news agency reported last week that Mr Kim attended a football match in Pyongyang and 10 photos have since been shown of the man known as the "Dear Leader" visiting a women's artillery unit. Significantly, the reports did not say when the photos were taken.

"Those photos were more damaging because it is well into autumn in North Korea now and the trees in the background clearly have summer foliage," said Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor of international relations at Tokyo's Waseda University.

"This just goes to show how very ill he is," he said.

Mr Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in August and has failed to appear for celebrations marking two red-letter days in the country's calendar, most recently Friday's anniversary of the founding of North Korea's communist party.

That has inevitably led to speculation about who is in control in Pyongyang and the identity of the next North Korean leader.

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My Comment: Passing off doctored pictures that were clearly taken at a different time is sloppy work from North Korea's "propaganda branch".