Kim’s absence at funeral renews health questions

BEIJING – North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was absent from a high-level funeral, South Korean officials said Friday, fueling a new round of speculation on his medical condition.

The 66-year-old failed to appear at the funeral of Pak Song-chol earlier this week, South Korea’s Unification Ministry spokesman, Kim Ho-nyeon, said at a news conference.

Pak, 95, was considered the last of the communist state’s first-generation revolutionaries, and honoring someone of his standing is considered extremely important in the one-party state, particularly because he held key positions under Kim Il Sung – Kim’s father, the founder of the nation who was treated as a near-god.

Pak held various jobs from 1950 into the 1970s and eventually rose to membership in the elite politburo, reportedly retaining his standing as the nation’s fifth-most powerful official until his death.

Kim hasn’t been seen in public for months amid unconfirmed reports he suffered a stroke in August. Officials in the capital, Pyongyang, have denied the reports, labeling them a Western conspiracy.

In an apparent attempt to quiet the conjecture, North Korea claimed earlier this month that Kim had attended a soccer match and inspected a women’s military unit.

A news report on Pak’s funeral by the official North Korean news agency said a wreath given by Kim rested beside Pak’s bier.

Kim also missed the 60th anniversary of the nation’s founding in September and a Worker’s Party celebration last month, major milestones on the North Korean calendar. The uncertainty is worrisome in an erratic totalitarian state that tested a nuclear device in October 2006.

With very little credible information, pundits, media and foreign governments have tried to interpret the limited circumstantial evidence available. It points to Kim being alive, analysts said, given the lack of unusual military or government activity and the fact that the North has not been canceling visits or reeling in its delegations.

“But given the seriousness of a stroke, this brings to fore the issue of stability in the North Korean regime,” said L. Gordon Flake, executive director of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation in Washington, D.C. “In the end, we can probably conclude this is the beginning of the final chapter.”

Kim took over leadership of the country after his father died in 1994. But the succession was planned decades in advance and telegraphed widely to the Korean public. This time, there is no obvious replacement.

Analysts said it’s likely Kim’s apparent health problems have accelerated succession thinking.