SEOUL (AFP) — North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Il has inspected an air force unit, state media said Sunday, the sixth public appearance to be reported this month amid speculation his health is worsening.
Kim inspected Air Force Unit 1016 after being greeted by air force chief Ri Pyong-Chol and other senior officers, the Korean Central News Agency said, without giving a date for the visit.
There have been widespread reports that Kim, 66, suffered a stroke around mid-August, although South Korean officials have said he was recovering well.
Kim set out tasks to boost the unit's combat capability and expressed satisfaction at its readiness "to cope with the enemies' moves for aggression," the agency said.
"He took warm care of the servicepersons' living with fatherly love, going round a bedroom, mess hall, kitchen and supply service facilities," it added.
On Tuesday the communist state's media released some 30 photographs of Kim inspecting factories, the latest in a series of such releases apparently designed to counter claims he is sick.
Kim's health is the subject of intense speculation because he has not publicly nominated a successor to run the impoverished but nuclear-armed nation.
State media in recent weeks have issued a series of still pictures of Kim in an apparent attempt to end the health speculation. But they have all been undated.
One photo issued early this month had been digitally altered to superimpose Kim's image onto a military group, experts said.
Dennis Wilder, the top Asia hand on the US National Security Council, said in November that Kim likely had suffered "some sort of health crisis".
He said he could not speculate on the degree of Kim's recovery.
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