North Korea's Kim Jong Il meets with Chinese official

The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea's reclusive leader turned up for talks with a senior Chinese envoy Friday, making his first such appearance in nearly a half year in an apparent bid to show he is fit despite reportedly suffering a stroke last August.

Kim Jong Il met with Communist Party official Wang Jiarui, toasting the representative from North Korea's main ally and saying his regime stands by its commitment to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, state-run media in both countries said.

Wang is believed to be the first high-level outside official to have face-to-face contact with Kim since the North Korean leader fell out of the public eye amid speculation about his health.

Analysts said the meeting -- coming just days after President Obama took office -- might be a way for Kim to show the new U.S. leader that he is ready for further nuclear negotiations. Kim appeared thinner but otherwise healthy in photos of the meeting in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.

"The meeting appears to be aimed at telling Obama that Kim has no problem with his health and is well enough to meet with Obama's envoy," said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.

Kim told Wang that Pyongyang is "dedicated to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and hoped to peacefully coexist with all sides and would not like to see tension in the peninsula," China's official Xinhua news agency said.

After test exploding a nuclear bomb in 2006, North Korea signed an accord a few months later with the U.S., China, Japan, South Korea and Russia agreeing to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for aid and other concessions.

There has been some progress since then, with Pyongyang starting to disable its main nuclear reactor and blowing up a cooling tower. But the process has been stalled since August over a dispute with Washington on another key step: verifying Pyongyang's past nuclear activities.

While campaigning, Obama said he would be open as president to meeting with Kim if it would help advance the nuclear disarmament process -- a stance that appeared to intrigue Pyongyang.

In his first address as president, Obama said Tuesday that he would work "with old friends and former foes" to lessen nuclear threats, a remark that analysts say suggested he might seek direct contact with isolated nations such as North Korea and Iran.

Kim, who turns 67 next month, disappeared from public view last year, sparking concerns about his health when he missed a key North Korean anniversary in September. South Korean and U.S. officials said Kim suffered a stroke but was recovering.

His health is of keen interest because he rules the nation of 23 million with absolute authority, allowing no opposition, and has not publicly named a successor. Kim inherited leadership of the Stalinist nation when his father, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, died in 1994 after grooming his son for the post for 20 years in the communist world's first hereditary change of power.

Other countries in the region worry that a sudden death of the younger Kim could spark a power struggle or mass flight from the extremely poor nation.

North Korea has steadfastly denied Kim was ill, seeking to buttress its claims by releasing photos and video showing an active and healthy Kim touring the country.

But South Korean officials said they could not confirm those visits because the photos and video were not dated, and no live footage of Kim was broadcast on North Korea's state TV to validate their authenticity.

Analysts, officials and doctors scrutinized the photos for clues to Kim's health. Images issued in early October appeared to have been taken months earlier, showing telltale spring greenery in the background at a time when the Korean peninsula was awash in fall foliage. Others appeared to have been edited.

Later photos seemed more credible as winter set in, showing Kim in a parka, fur hat and his trademark sunglasses. But some experts also suspected the leader suffered paralysis, saying there appeared to be stiffness in his left hand.

Photos released Friday by the state-run Korean Central News Agency showing Kim with Wang were the clearest sign yet that Kim has regained his health.

Dressed in his trademark Mao suit, the normally pudgy Kim appeared thinner but robust as he raised a glass to toast Wang, a broad smile on his face. Another photo showed him seated at a table, leaning forward with both hands clasped before him, his left hand appearing swollen.

In one picture, Kim is shown holding an invitation from Chinese President Hu Jintao to visit Beijing. Kim accepted the invitation, Xinhua said.

"Common sense would say that Chairman Kim's health condition seems to be normal since he met with a foreign guest," the spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry, Kim Ho-nyeon, said.