SEOUL - NORTH Korea announced on Wednesday it will elect new members of its rubber stamp legislature in March, following months of delay amid speculation about the health of leader Kim Jong Il.

The North usually holds a parliamentary election every five years. The last election was held in August 2003, but the communist nation failed to hold one in 2008 after the 66-year-old Mr Kim reportedly suffered a stroke.

On Wednesday, Pyongyang announced through its official Korean Central News Agency that the election of deputies to the 12th Supreme People's Assembly will be held on March 8. The brief dispatch provided no further details.

The announcement could be an indication of an improvement in Mr Kim's health.

South Korean and US officials say Mr Kim collapsed following a stroke in August, but was recovering.

North Korea denies the leader was ever ill, and since early October has sent a steady stream of photos and footage of him in public activities, such as visits to military units, farms and factories, though most of them did not specify an exact location or date.

Parliamentary elections are a formality in North Korea because candidates are hand-picked by the ruling Workers' Party of Korea and totalitarian leader Mr Kim. The legislature usually meets once or twice a year to rubber-stamp budgets or other decisions.

In the 2003 poll, 687 deputies, including Mr Kim, were elected with total support. Voter turnout usually is close to 100 per cent.

Mr Kim took over North Korea after his father and national founder Kim Il Sung died in 1994, and rules the hunger-stricken country through an intense cult of personality. -- AP