N. Korean leader inspects steel firm in rare consecutive tour

SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il inspected a steel company, the North's news agency said Thursday, reporting rare consecutive days of tours to apparently deny rumors of his failing health.

Kim "gave field guidance to the February General Steel Enterprise" in Jagang
Province, the North's remote northern region, the Korean Central News Agency
said, giving no date for the visit.
Just a day earlier, the agency said Kim had visited an electronics research
center, a library and a pharmaceutical plant.
It was Kim's first serial inspections since rumors of his deteriorating health
broke in mid-August.
"Noting that it is very important for building an economic power to develop the
steel industry, he set forth the tasks to be fulfilled by the enterprise," the
report said.
Seoul and Washington officials have said the 66-year-old Kim is recovering after
undergoing brain surgery. Pyongyang's state media has since released photos of
him touring military units, factories and a sporting event but without specifying
the dates on when they were taken.
The photos have not been effective in quelling speculation on Kim's health, with
some showing traces of manipulation.
A French neurosurgeon who reportedly treated Kim in Pyongyang, Francois-Xavier
Roux, was quoted as saying by French newspaper Le Figaro last week that Kim did
in fact suffer a stroke but did not undergo surgery as was widely suspected, and
that he is now in better condition. Roux visited Pyongyang at the end of October,
the paper said.
Roux later recanted the report, saying he was misquoted.
Kim's health has been a subject of keen attention as he has not publicly
nominated a successor. Kim, who took power after his father and North Korean
founder Kim Il-sung died in 1994, is believed to have diabetes and heart
problems.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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