SEOUL - NORTH Korea released a photograph Sunday showing leader Kim Jong Il smiling and watching a football match - the latest apparent attempt to calm intense speculation over the health of the country's absolute ruler.

Mr Kim, 66, reportedly suffered a stroke and underwent brain surgery in August. North Korea has denied he is ill and has in recent weeks released news reports, photos and footage portraying the leader as active and able.

On Sunday afternoon, North Korean state television showed an undated still photo of what it said is Mr Kim watching a football match between two army-affiliated teams.

The photo shows Mr Kim sitting with other people and watching something from what appears to be a special viewing stand inside a building. Mr Kim is shown smiling, wearing his trademark sunglasses with a brown jacket and black pants, but scenes of any football match are not visible.

The North's TV broadcast 13 other shots showing Mr Kim in the same clothes talking with people near a field, although no football players are seen. The rest of photos show stand-alone scenes of a football match near a small hill with trees showing autumn foliage.

South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon said his ministry has begun analysing the photos with outside experts. He declined to provide details.

An unidentified North Korean anchorwoman said that Mr Kim attended the football match between Mangyongbong and Jebi teams of the (North) Korean's People's Army together with top military officers and Workers' Party officials. She did not say when and where the game was played.

Mr Kim expressed 'great satisfaction over a high level of the game played by them' and praised the army for leading the country's 'songun', or military first, policy, the anchorwoman said.

Earlier on Sunday, the country's official Korean Central News Agency carried a similar report.

Speculation about Mr Kim's health spiked after he missed a key national celebration marking the country's 60th birthday on Sept 9.

He had disappeared from public eye since mid-August.

Last week, South Korea's spy chief, Kim Sung-ho, said that the North Korean leader appeared to have recovered enough to carry out his official duties, although he was 'not physically perfect'.

Japan's Fuji television has reported that Mr Kim's eldest son, Kim Jong Nam, flew recently to Paris to recruit a neurosurgeon to treat his father. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso told lawmakers last week that the French doctor boarded a flight to Beijing, perhaps en route to North Korea.

Kim Keun-sik, a North Korea expert at South Korea's Kyungnam University, said the North released the photos to show the outside world again that Kim Jong Il has no health problems in running the country, because 'speculation on his health has been endlessly raised'.

North Korea has been seeking to tamp down rumors about Kim's health with news reports and footage portraying the leader as active and able, attending another soccer game and inspecting a military unit. The reports, photos and video are undated.

Last month, North Korea released photos showing Mr Kim inspecting a military unit and appearing healthy. However, it did not say when the pictures were taken, sparking speculation that the photos might have been old because the lush green foliage appeared not to match the Korean peninsula's current autumn season.

Mr Kim, who rules the Stalinist nation with absolute authority, has not publicly named any successors, leading to concerns about an uncertain future in the impoverished, nuclear-armed country. -- AP