Kim underwent surgery by Chinese doctors: report

Posted by Yuka as City Tokyo

TOKYO: North Korean leader Kin Jong-Il underwent surgery with help from Chinese
military doctors following a stroke last month, a Japanese report said Sunday,
citing unnamed Chinese sources.
Five Chinese doctors were dispatched by
China at North Korea’s request to perform surgery after Kim suffered a stroke on
August 14, Kyodo News reported, amid media speculation over Kim’s health after
he failed to appear at a mass parade last week to mark the hardline communist
state’s 60th anniversary. Although Kim is recuperating, he is still having
problems with the functioning of his limbs and he will require a long period of
rest and rehabilitation, the Chinese sources were quoted as saying.

The
Chinese sources said the North Korean authorities decided not to carry out a
full-fledged military parade on the state’s 60th anniversary as it would appear
strange to hold such an event without the country’s top leader being present,
according to the report. Kim’s health is the subject of intense speculation
since he has not publicly nominated a successor among his three sons, stirring
fears among Asian neighbours of potential instability in the nuclear-armed
state.
Earlier Sunday, Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, quoting a Chinese
official, said Kim had suffered occasional blackouts since April and had not
been able to give full guidance on policy. Kim also suffered heart and kidney
problems last year, the paper said, and has cut back his duties to concentrate
on medical treatment. afp