HYUNG-JIN KIM, SEOUL
North Korea's Kim Jong Il is on the road to recovery from a stroke and still in control of his isolated country's communist regime, South Korea suggested yesterday, disputing reports that the leader is gravely ill.
President Lee Myung-bak convened a meeting of top security ministers, who were briefed on intelligence that indicates Kim was recovering, said Lee Dong-kwan, the president's chief spokesman.
The North Korean leader was currently "not seen to be in a serious condition," the spokesman said in a statement after the meeting yesterday, citing the contents of the briefing.
Earlier, South Korea's spy agency told a meeting of politicians it had intelligence showing the 66-year-old Kim's condition had improved, an agency official said.
South Korea's optimistic view of Kim's health came as North Korea moved to try to dispel fears about him after he failed to appear for a key national ceremony on Tuesday. "There are no problems," Kim Yong Nam, Pyongyang's deputy leader and ceremonial head of state, told Japan's Kyodo News agency.-AP
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