SEOUL - NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong Il toured a newly built factory in the capital Pyongyang, state media said, amid a South Korean news report that he has been diagnosed with life-threatening cancer.
The 67-year-old gave 'field guidance' to officials at the Taedonggang Tile Factory and toured its facilities, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said late on Monday in its latest account of Mr Kim's activities.
On Monday, South Korea's YTN cable TV network said Mr Kim, who is widely believed to have suffered a stroke last August, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and may not live more than five years.
South Korean officials and the US State Department said they could give no information about the reported illness.
State TV last week showed a gaunt Mr Kim limping slightly and with thinning hair when he made a televised appearance to pay homage to his late father Kim Il Sung at a national memorial service.
Mr Kim's health is the subject of intense international attention because of the communist state's nuclear and missile programmes and uncertainty about who will succeed him.
Seoul intelligence officials have been quoted as saying he has nominated his youngest son, Mr Kim Jong Un, 26, as the successor but there has been no announcement to the outside world.
Regional tensions are high, with Pyongyang defying United Nations sanctions designed to halt its atomic and missile activities.
Official media has publicised a brisk round of activities by the leader this year. With the latest visit - it was not clear when it was - he has made 82 public inspection tours this year compared to 57 in the same period last year.
Mr Kim reportedly noted that the tile factory relies purely on locally available raw materials. Such 'successful endeavours being made by all domains of the national economy... fully reflect the unshakable faith of the Korean people to build a great prosperous and powerful nation on this land by their own efforts, resources and technology without fail', he was quoted saying. -- AFP
