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SEOUL: North Korea has released more photographs of leader Kim Jong-Il making an official visit, in another apparent attempt to refute reports that he is sick.
The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) issued a series of undated photos showing Kim touring a library at Kanggye city in the northern province of Jagang.
One shows him looking on as people in the library use computers. The 66-year-old is seen wearing a fur hat and thick winter coat despite the indoor setting.
South Korean and US officials say Kim suffered a stroke around mid-August, although Seoul officials say he is recovering and still in control of his nuclear-armed nation.
Since reports of Kim's illness began circulating in September, official media have released dozens of undated photos of him on various official trips.
Some earlier photos have raised more questions than they have answered. One issued early last month had been digitally altered to superimpose Kim's image onto a military group, experts said.
The leader's health is the subject of intense interest since he has not publicly nominated any successor and has a history of diabetes and heart disease.
He took power after his father Kim Il-Sung died of a heart attack in 1994 aged 82.
KCNA said Kim visited an e-business institute, the library and a medicine factory in Kanggye. He stressed the need to develop information technology "in order to put all fields of the national economy on an IT basis."
- AFP/yb
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