Skip to main content

Kim Jong-il Reported To Have Pancreatic Cancer





By VOA News
13 July 2009

This screen grab from North Korean television shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il attending a session of the parliament in Pyongyang, 09 Apr 2009
This screen grab from North Korean television shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il attending a session of the parliament in Pyongyang, 09 Apr 2009
A South Korean television station is reporting Monday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has pancreatic cancer, and that his illness is life-threatening.

YTN television says its report is based on information obtained by South Korean and Chinese intelligence officials. No other details are immediately available.

Mr. Kim's health has been a focus of speculation for the past year after he reportedly suffered a stroke. He disappeared from public last August for several months.

North Korean media outlets have vehemently denied the reports of Mr. Kim's ill health, and published undated photos and video footage of him.






Mr. Kim looked gaunt during a rare public appearance Wednesday, July 8, at a memorial in honor of the 15th anniversary of his father Kim Il Sung's death.

Last month a South Korean newspaper reported that Pyongyang was trying to import expensive medical equipment to treat the leader through intermediaries in China. The report did not specify the disease, but said Kim Jong Il's condition was serious.

The status of Mr. Kim's health raises the issue about his succession in the communist dynasty, and who will control the country's nuclear weapons programs.

Recent media reports said Mr. Kim named his youngest son, 26-year-old Kim Jong Un as his successor. In April he promoted his brother-in-law Jang Song Thaek to the powerful national Defense Commission.

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Qory Sandioriva: The new Putri Indonesia

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 10/16/2009 10:42 AM | People Courtesy of Waspada Online The criticism she has received for “misrepresenting” her home province of Aceh has failed to discourage newly crowned Putri Indonesia 2009 Qory Sandioriva. Qory, the first woman representing the strongly Islamic region of Aceh to win the title, made no apology for publicly rejecting the jilbab or Muslim headscarf during the pageant’s final night in Jakarta, playing it down as a “misunderstanding”. “Perhaps it was a mistake to make such a statement, but honestly I have never worn a jilbab all my life,” the 18-year-old French literature student from the University of Indonesia told Waspada Online during a visit to Medan, North Sumatra, a few days after her win. Her responses to the judges’ questions have upset many people, particularly religious leaders in her home province. In the contest’s final stage, she was asked why she was not wearing a headscarf like previous contestan
Post a Comment
Read more

Royal garb

Kim Kardashian reacts to photographers at the Noon by Noor launch event in West Hollywood, Calif., Wednesday night. Noon by Noor is a fashion collection designed by Kingdom of Bahrain royalty Noor Rashid Al Khalifa and Haya Mohammed Al Khalifa. (AP/Chris Pizzello)       The Jakarta Post | Thu, 07/21/2011 3:04 PM
Post a Comment
Read more

Army: Gunmen kill Indonesia soldier in Papua

 Associated Press, Jayapura | Thu, 07/21/2011 6:47 PM An army officer says unidentified gunmen have ambushed Indonesia soldiers and killed one of them in the easternmost province of Papua. The chief army officer in Papua says soldiers are still searching for the gunmen. Maj. Gen. Erfi Triassunu said the ambush Thursday morning happened outside a village in the hilly district of Puncak Jaya. Triassunu said the victim was a first private killed by a shot to his head. No information was available on the other soldiers. The attack occurred one day after a military tribunal indicted three low-ranking soldiers for killing a civilian in Puncak Jaya last year. Papua is a former Dutch colony incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot. A small, poorly armed separatist movement has battled for independence ever since.
Post a Comment
Read more