Kim Jong Il reportedly absent from national parade

[September 09, 2008]  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il failed to attend a closely watched parade marking the country's 60th anniversary of its founding Tuesday, news reports said, amid recent speculation that he may be ill.

The centerpiece of the celebration had been expected to be a massive military parade through Pyongyang's central Kim Il Sung Square -- named after the communist country's founding figure -- as normally happens in key anniversary years.

Kim attended the parade on the 50th and 55th anniversaries.

But Japan's Kyodo news agency and Russia's RIA-Novosti reported that the parade itself was toned down -- lacking the usual massive displays of the army, navy and air force -- and that Kim did not appear.

A spokesman for South Korea's main spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, said it could not immediately confirm Kim's absence, though said that the parade was found to have largely been conducted by civilian militia forces.

The rally involved about 1 million people, the spokesman said, on condition of anonymity, citing office policy.

Kim's health has been a focus of intense interest because his fate is believed to be closely tied to that of the totalitarian state that he inherited in 1994 from his father in communism's first hereditary transfer of power.

Kim has been absent from public view since mid-August.

South Korean media have speculated that the 66-year-old Kim's health has worsened. South Korea's intelligence service has previously said Kim has chronic heart disease and diabetes -- denied by Kim himself.

South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Tuesday that Kim collapsed on Aug. 22, citing an unnamed South Korean diplomat in Beijing. The diplomat got the information from a Chinese source, the paper said.

South Korean officials said Monday that they believed the North was planning a military parade, though could not confirm a South Korean media report that it was to be the country's largest ever.

The North's 60th anniversary comes amid international doubts over its commitment to denuclearization, speculation about the health of its leader and a worsening food crisis.

North Korea's state news agency made no mention of the parade late Tuesday, though it carried an exhortation from the main Rodong Sinmun newspaper calling on the population to remain united around Kim.

"One-minded unity around the revolutionary leadership is a source of all the DPRK's victories and miracles," the paper said in a lengthy editorial marking the anniversary, using the acronym for the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

It also called for a stronger military, describing the armed forces as "the foundation of a strong nation."

South Korea said last week the North has begun restoring its atomic facilities in apparent anger over not being removed from a U.S. list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

North Korea -- which conducted an underground nuclear test blast in October 2006 -- began disabling its main nuclear facilities late last year in exchange for international energy aid and other benefits.

The United States has insisted Pyongyang must first agree to a full inspection system of its nuclear programs if it wants to be taken off the terrorism list.

In Washington, the U.S. said that North Korea appears to be preparing to reverse the process of disabling its nuclear facilities.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters Monday he could not confirm that the North has removed international seals from some of its nuclear equipment. But he said the U.S. assessment is that the North is "taking some of the equipment out of storage where it had been, perhaps taking off some of those seals."

Meantime, the World Food Program says North Korea's food shortage, an endemic problem, has worsened this year after devastating floods in 2007.

The North has relied on foreign assistance to help feed its 23 million people since its state-controlled economy collapsed due to mismanagement and natural disasters in the mid-1990s.

On Tuesday, South Korea's top minister in charge of relations with the North said Seoul plans to help North Korea overcome food shortages, and will provide greater assistance if Pyongyang resumes reconciliation talks with the South.

"The North Korean people suffer from food shortages," Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong told an international seminar. "We will not ignore such reality. We will assist the North."

Relations between the two sides have frozen since new South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in February with a pledge to get tough on Pyongyang. North Korea protested Lee's hard-line stance and suspended dialogue with Seoul.

[Associated Press; By KELLY OLSEN]

Associated Press Writer Jae-soon Chang contributed to this report.

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