Kim Jong-il inspects tank unit for New Year's: report

(ATTN: UPDATES details on photo release in 4th para)
SEOUL, Jan. 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il recently inspected one
of the communist country's military units, making his first public appearance of
2009 amid continued speculation about the state of his health, according to a
report Saturday.
Kim paid an on-site visit to the "Guard Seoul Ryu Kyong Su Tank Division 105,"
said the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency, monitored in Seoul. The
report was datelined Friday but did not specify the timing of Kim's visit. It
said that he "congratulated (the unit's) service persons on the New Year."
The North's state media has recently carried a string of reports on Kim's public
activities since speculation about his ailing health heightened following the
leader's absence from events on Sept. 9 marking the 60th anniversary of North
Korea's foundation.
During his visit, Kim viewed various works of art and performances by some of the
unit's soldiers. The agency also released a photograph of Kim supposedly taken
with the soldiers during the visit.
Accompanied by a number of generals, Kim offered New Year's greetings to the
servicemen and expressed his appreciation for their revolutionary and martial
spirit, the report said. Kim was not quoted directly in the report.
The division, named after a late North Korean military commander during the
Korean War, is the communist country's first tank unit, according to the report.
It was known to be under the direct command of Kim's father and state founder Kim
Il-sung in August 1960.
It was also central to the country's "songun," or military first, ideology,
officially adopted by Kim Jong-il in 1995, a year after his father died at age
82. The younger Kim's ascendancy marked the first-ever father-to-son power
transfer in a communist state.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
(END)