Stop speculation on Kim

tauringhuang.

SEOUL - A SOUTH Korean minister called on Thursday for an end to rampant speculation about the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, saying it could heighten tensions with the communist state.
The call from Unification Minister Kim Ha Joong was the second in two days after a similar warning from Prime Minister Han Seung Soo.

'Even if intelligence reports (on Kim's illness) are credible, it's not appropriate to mention them before the North's confirmation,' Mr Kim told parliament.

If the South keeps mentioning Mr Kim's poor health despite Pyongyang's denial, the North may consider it 'slanderous and antagonistic behaviour,' he said.

'Reports of North Korea's likely collapse (after Mr Kim's death) are of no help to the national interest and could lead to worsening inter-Korean relations,' Kim said.

Prime Minister Han told officials and ministers on Wednesday to stop leaking information.

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'You should not provoke North Korea unnecessarily by disclosing more information or more intelligence than needed,' Mr Han told a cabinet meeting.

After Mr Kim, 66, failed to appear at a Sept 9 anniversary parade, South Korean officials said he underwent brain surgery following a stroke around mid-Aug but was recovering well.

The last report by the North's state media of his outside activities was on Aug 14.

A pro-Pyongyang newspaper said on Wednesday it was not unusual for Mr Kim Jong Il's activities not to be publicised at times of high tension on the peninsula.

The Japan-based Choson Sinbo did not deny Mr Kim was ill but said his absence from the parade had prompted a variety of 'arbitrary interpretations and far-fetched speculation' about his health.

North Korea last month stopped disabling its nuclear plants, which it agreed to do under a six-nation disarmament deal, and is taking initial steps to restart the reactor.

It is angry at the US' failure to drop it from a terrorism blacklist because of a dispute over verification of nuclear activities. -- AFP