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 Sung Chol 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. He held key positions under Kim Il Sung, the current leader's father and the nation's founder, who was treated as a near-god. Honoring someone of Pak's standing is considered extremely important in the one-party state.
He served in various jobs from 1950 into the 1970s and eventually rose to membership in the Politburo, reportedly retaining his status as the nation's fifth-most-powerful official until his death.
Kim Jong Il hasn't been seen in public for months amid unconfirmed reports that he had suffered a stroke in August. Pyongyang has denied the reports, labeling them a Western conspiracy. In an apparent attempt to quiet the conjecture, North Korea said last month that Kim had attended a soccer match and inspected a women's military unit.
A report on Pak's funeral by the official North Korean news agency said a wreath given by Kim rested beside Pak's bier. The report's turgid lead sentence, which contained more words than Kim's age, listed people who paid tribute to the old fighter.
Kim also missed a military parade marking the 60th anniversary of the nation's founding in September and a celebration of the ruling Workers' Party last month, both 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 Pyongyang silent about its leader, pundits, the news media and foreign governments have tried to interpret the limited circumstantial evidence available. It points to Kim still 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 the fore the issue of stability in the North Korean regime," said L. Gordon Flake, a North Korea specialist and executive director of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation in Washington. "In the end, we can probably conclude this is the beginning of the final chapter."
