The North's state television on Saturday showed photographs of Kim for the first time in almost two months since he disappeared from the public eye.

But Yonhap said the dark green colour of grass and trees in the images led intelligence authorities to believe they were taken in summer, and it was not even clear which year.

North Korea is now in autumn.

'Analysis of the Kim Jong-Il photos shows that given natural environments displayed in them, they were taken in July or August, although with the year unknown,' an unidentified intelligence source told the news agency.

Yonhap said intelligence officials believe the photos were shot before Kim underwent brain surgery in mid-August.

An unidentifed government source told Yonhap the 10 still photographs were apparently released to show Mr Kim's regime is 'in good shape' both at home and abroad.

The pictures aired on state television showed Mr Kim, 66, inspecting a women's artillery battery wearing his trademark khaki boiler suit - but did not say when the visit was made.

Mr Kim was last spotted by official media on August 14. He failed to appear on September 9 for a parade marking the country's 60th anniversary.

South Korean officials said he had suffered a stroke around mid-August and underwent brain surgery but was recovering well.

On October 4 state media said the leader attended a football match but did not specify when, or carry photographs.

He also failed to appear at Friday's ceremonies on the anniversary of the ruling communist party, although state broadcasters carried a rare statement under his name appealing for loyalty.

Saturday's photos showed Mr Kim wearing sunglasses and chatting with troops, clapping or watching a parade. His hair appeared as bouffant as before and his chubby but ageing face looked similar to photos before his reported stroke.

The television carried no video footage.

'His poor health might have been overblown out of proportion in the West and South Korea,' Dr Kim Keun Sik of Kyungnam University told AFP.

But Mr Baek Seung Joo with the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses said it was 'certain' that Mr Kim had been in hospital.

'The release of the pictures is aimed at easing anxieties among North Koreans as news about his illness has been whispered about in the North,' he said.

Doctors said the pictures showed little sign of Mr Kim suffering from any paralysis. 'If he suffered a stroke, it might have been a very minor one,' neurologist Lee Mi Sook of Seran Hospital told Yonhap news agency.

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) earlier on Saturday reported Mr Kim's inspection of the women's battery of Korean People's Army Unit 821. It also did not say when he made the visit.

'Walking in the compound of the barracks, he watched the thick verdure formed by trees of various species,' it said.

'He had a photo session with the service persons of the battery. He was accompanied by KPA Generals Hyon Chol Hae and Ri Myong Su,' it added.

North Korean media usually report Mr Kim's public appearances belatedly without giving specific dates.

Mr Kim's health is the subject of intense speculation since he has not publicly nominated a successor to run the impoverished and nuclear-armed nation. He officially took over from his father, founding president Kim Il Sung, in 1997.

Broadcasters in Pyongyang on Friday carried a lengthy statement from Mr Kim appealing for loyalty.

Yonhap said the statement was intended for release on September 9. It was not clear why it was carried belatedly but it is unusual for such a statement to be issued under Mr Kim's name.

'Ideological struggles must be stepped up to prevent any modicum of capitalist ideology and lifestyle from intruding,' Mr Kim said in the statement.

'We must continue putting the greatest efforts to strengthen our defence capability... the most important task for strengthening the People's Army is to uphold the one-man leadership of the Supreme Commander (Mr Kim Jong Il),' he said.

Speculation about his health coincided with major problems in an international deal to scrap North Korea's nuclear programmes in return for diplomatic concessions and energy aid.

But the United States said on Saturday it had removed North Korea from its terror blacklist after reaching an agreement on nuclear verification measures, a major stumbling block in the deal.

The verification steps include the plutonium programme but also any uranium and proliferation activities, said US negotiator Christopher Hill, representing world powers in the negotiations with North Korea.

Mr Hill and his counterparts also agreed that experts from all six parties - the two Koreas, China, the United States, Japan and Russia - 'may participate in verification activities, including experts from non-nuclear states,' he said. -- AFP