South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak has ordered ministers to be prepared for any abrupt changes in North Korea after its leader, Kim Jong-Il, suffered a stroke, officials said on Thursday.
Lee gave the instructions at an unscheduled meeting on Wednesday night with security-related ministers and senior aides, presidential spokesperson Lee Dong-Kwan said.
“At the meeting, Lee was given a report that the North Korean leader is recovering from a stroke and not in critical condition. The Cabinet ministers also reported to Lee that the North Korean military has not shown any unusual moves,” the spokesperson said.
He quoted Lee as saying that “thorough preparations should be made to minimise confusion over changes in North Korea’s political circumstances”.
The intelligence agency told Parliament on Wednesday the leader of the hard-line communist state has suffered a stroke but is still able to run the country and will recover.
The 66-year-old is not fit enough for public activities but can speak without difficulty, legislators quoted National Intelligence Service officials as telling a closed session of Parliament’s intelligence committee.
The agency believes there will be no power vacuum in the communist state because Kim can recover.
News of the stroke emerged after Kim failed to attend a parade on Tuesday marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state.
Lee Chul-Woo, secretary of Parliament’s intelligence committee, said on Thursday that Kim is “recovering fast”, can stand if supported and has no problems communicating.
He said the South Korean government has recognised Kim’s health problems since mid-August. The North’s state media has not reported any public appearances by Kim since August 14, when he inspected an army unit.
Lee told a radio show the North’s leader “has received treatment for about six years for a heart disease and diabetes, which we guess have suddenly worsened”,
Succession
Attention is focusing on who might succeed the “Dear Leader” should he die or become permanently incapacitated.
Lee said a collective leadership was more likely should there be a sudden transition, but if Kim’s condition improves, the succession would be determined later.
If the North’s powerful military secured more power in a post-Kim era, “it will change toward a tougher line”, legislator Lee said.
“If technocrats in the administration get more power, it will then move towards inter-Korean reconciliation.”
Kim has prioritised a “Songun”, or army-first policy, giving the 1,1-million-strong military priority over civilian needs.
Kim’s health has been the subject of intense speculation since he took over from his father, who died in 1994, in the communist world’s only dynastic succession. He has not publicly nominated any successor.
Kim’s illness comes amid deadlock in a six-nation nuclear disarmament deal and fears that the North intends to restart its programme.
The North, one of the world’s most isolated and impoverished countries, promised to shut down the programme after its October 2006 test of an atomic weapon.
But it has halted work to disable its plutonium-producing plants, and says it will start repairing them because of the deadlock over verification of its nuclear disclosures.
In Washington, the White House declined comment on Kim’s health but described comments by the nominal number two leader, Kim Yong-Nam, as positive.
Kim Yong-Nam told Japan’s Kyodo News in Pyongyang that the US was moving too slowly in rewarding North Korea for steps towards disabling its nuclear programmes, but that problems can be overcome.
“Once time passes and we continue to try to find a way, I believe we can solve this,” Kim was quoted as saying. — AFP