N. Korean leader attends musical performance by laborers

SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il attended a musical
performance arranged by laborers in Jagang Province near the Chinese border, a
state-run news agency said Saturday.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim enjoyed the songs presented by the
State Merited Chorus, although giving no specific date for the event.
The 66-year-old leader, who has ruled the communist country since the death of
his father Kim Il-sung in 1994, is rumored to be in poor heath with some claiming
he may have suffered a stroke.
Kim missed out on key national events earlier in the year, sparking rampant
speculation of his ill health.
The report marks the fifth time this week that the tightly controlled media
covered Kim's public activities in the remote northern province.
Pyongyang has repeatedly stressed that Kim is not ill and that speculation
regarding his health is false. It also threatened South Koreaa with dire
consequences for "spreading lies" about Kim's health.
The KCNA, meanwhile, said Kim highly appreciated the performance and extended
thanks to the artists.
It added that other key party and military officials were present at the event,
including Jang Song-taek, department director of the North's ruling Workers'
Party, Pak To-chun, chief secretary of the Jagang Provincial Committee and
generals Hyon Chol Hae and Ri Myong-su.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
(END)