Doubts Hang Over North Korea’s 60th Anniversary

NORTH Korea marked the 60th anniversary of its founding today amid international doubts over its commitment to de-nuclearisation, speculation about the health of its leader and a worsening food crisis.

The centrepiece of the celebration was to be a massive military parade through Pyongyang’s central Kim Il Sung Square – named after the communist country’s founding figure – expected to take place later. But attention was focused on whether Kim Jong Il, the country’s current leader and son of the founder, would attend given his absence from public view since mid-August which has sparked speculation he could be ill.

South Korean media have speculated that the 66-year-old Kim’s health has worsened. South Korea’s intelligence service has previously said Kim has chronic heart disease and diabetes – denied by Kim himself.

South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that Kim collapsed on August 22, citing an unnamed South Korean diplomat in Beijing. The diplomat got the information from a Chinese source, the paper said.

Kim’s health has been a focus of intense media attention because his fate is believed to be closely tied to that of the totalitarian state that he inherited in 1994 from his father in communism’s first hereditary transfer of power.

The 60th anniversary comes amid an impasse in international efforts to disable North Korea’s nuclear programs. South Korea said last week the North has begun restoring its atomic facilities in apparent anger over not being removed from a US list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

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