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THE UNIVERSITY OF DARRY KANSAN
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2008
NEWS 7A
INTERNATIONAL
Kim Jong-ll recovering after recent stroke
North Korean second-in-command says nation's leader has 'no problems'
BY HYUNG-JIN KIM ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea's Kim Jong-Il is on the road to recovery from a stroke and still in control of his isolated country's communist regime, South Korea suggested Wednesday, disputing reports that the leader is gravely ill.
The North Korean leader was currently "not seen to be in a serious condition," the spokesman said in a statement after the meeting late Wednesday, citing the contents of the briefing.
President Lee Myung-bak convened a meeting of top security ministers, who were briefed on intelligence that indicates Kim was recovering, said Lee Dong-kwan, the president's chief spokesman.
Earlier, South Korea's spy agency told a closed door meeting of lawmakers it had intelligence showing the 66-year-old Kim's condition had much improved, an agency official said on condition of anonymity, citing official policy.
A South Korean woman read about North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in Seoul, South Korea. Wednesday, North Korea denied that Il is seriously ill, granting a foreign news outlet rare interviews with top officials who dismissed reports questioning Kim's health following his absence from a key ceremony.
South Korea's optimistic view of Kim's health came as North Korea moved to try and dispel fears about his health after he failed to appear for a key national ceremony Tuesday.
"There are no problems," Kim Yong Nam, Pyongyang's No. 2 leader and ceremonial head of state, told Japan's Kyodo News agency.
Song II Ho, a senior North Korean diplomat, called reports of Kim's illness "worthless" and a "conspiracy plot," adding that Western media "have reported falsehoods before;" according to Kyodo's dispatch from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.
Despite the willingness of the North Korean officials to speak through a foreign news agency, their own state media apparatus remained mum on Kim's condition.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing lawmakers briefed
by the spy agency, reported that Kim suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, but he remains conscious and "is able to control the situation."
The report did not say when he suffered the stroke. South Koreas Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Tuesday that Kim collapsed on Aug. 22.
Intelligence agency officials said they could not confirm the Yonhap report.
The spy agency also reported to lawmakers that Kim is in a "recoverable and manageable condition," and that the North is not in a "power vacuum," Yonhap said.
Despite the reassurances, little was publicly known about Kim, whose health has been a focus of intense interest because his fate is believed to be closely tied to that of the totalitarian state.
"If he had surgery, it means it's serious." Kim Jong-sung, a neurology professor at Seoul's Asan Medical Center, said regarding a cerebral hemorrhage.
The condition can result in death, paralysis, difficulty in speaking and other disabilities, although if it is minor, recovery is possible without long-term affects. Surgery is generally only considered in the most serious cases, he said.
"If it's cerebral aneurysm and surgery is done well and quickly, there can be recovery without any disabilities," he said.
Still, the professor said that if North Korea's leader underwent surgery and has no paralysis, he could have suffered a cerebral aneurysm — a kind of cerebral hemorrhage that accounts for about 6 percent of all cases.
Speculation that Kim Jong-Il may have become ill intensified after he missed a parade Tuesday commemorating the communist state's founding 60 years ago. That followed weeks of being absent from public view and rumors that foreign doctors were brought in to
treat him.
South Korea's president instructed his top security ministers and aides to "carefully and thoroughly" prepare for any possible situation that can occur regarding Kim's health, said Lee Dong-kwan, the
presidential spokesman.
Seoul's Defense Ministry said there had been no unusual North Korean military movement and the heavily armed border between the two sides remained quiet.
Kim, who has been rumored to be in varying degrees of ill health for years, took over North Korea upon the death of his father in 1994.
States since 2002 over its nuclear ambitions. The country carried out its first nuclear test in 2006, but agreed last year to disable its nuclear facilities in exchange for economic aid and political concessions.
POLITICS
Franken battles for Senate seat in Minn.
BY BRIAN BAKST ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. PAUL, Minn. — With a pair of easy primary victories behind them, comedian-turned-politician Al Franken and Sen. Norm Coleman wasted no time diving into the homestretch of their already long-running Minnesota Senate battle.
Franken, a former "Saturday Night Live" star who put a talk radio career on hold to try his hand at politics, sealed the Democratic nomination in a seven-way primary. Coleman, the incumbent, trounced his only Republican opponent.
The race was the highest profile among primary elections held Tuesday in seven states and the District of Columbia.
For Franken and Coleman, the primaries were mere pitstops. Both have spent millions of dollars on hard-hitting ads and stockpiled millions more for the next eight weeks. While Coleman tended to Senate business in Washington, Franken planned a news conference Wednesday in St. Paul to set his tone for the general election.
"We're going to focus every day and the next 56 days on the issues in this race, and on why I'm running: To change the way Washington works," Franken said.
Coleman said he wouldn't be outhustled, noting his yearly treks through all 87 state counties since winning the seat in 2002.
One potential wild card: Dean Barkley, the Independence Party nominee hoping to regain the seat he held briefly in 2002 as then-Gov. Jesse Ventura's appointee to finish the late Paul Wellstone's term.
"In the end it's the grass-roots efforts that win these things," Coleman said. "People are going to be so tired of the TV ads."
Barkley topped six primary opponents Tuesday.
Voters in New York also picked candidates for congressional races. In the Buffalo area, environmental lawyer Alice Kryzan won an upset in a heated Democratic primary to replace retiring Rep. Tom Reynolds, a one-time GOP power broker. Krynan beat Iraq war veteran Jon Powers and millionaire Jack Davis, who received much more attention as they savaged each other.
A former star from MTV's "Real World" lost his bid to unseat a longtime Brooklyn congressman, Rep. Edolphus Towns. The 13-term Democratic incumbent defeated Kevin Powell, a community activist who appeared in the first season of the reality show.
Voters on Staten Island chose candidates to replace Republican Rep. Vito Fossella, who stepped
— In New Hampshire's closely watched Senate race, Republican Sen. John Sununu and former Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen easily won their primaries and resumed focus on their hard-fought rematch of 2002. Popular Democratic Gov. John Lynch easily defeated a retired teacher to seek a third two-year term.
aside after a drunken driving arrest led to revelations that hed fathered a child with a woman who was not his wife. City Councilman Michael McMahon won the Democratic primary, while former state assemblyman Bob Stranieri prevailed among Republicans.
New Hampshire's two House
Primaries were also held in New Hampshire, Vermont, Delaware, Wisconsin, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia. Some key results:
seats, now held by Democrats, were also in play. Former Rep. Jeb Bradley earned the Republican nod in one primary; Jennifer Horn, who put motherhood at the top of her resume, defeated four Republicans in the other race.
— In the most expensive gubernatorial primary in Delaware history, state treasurer Jack Markell defeated Lt. Gov. John Carney, Markell, a Democrat, will face retired judge Bill Lee, who sealed the Republican nod.
— Former Washington, D.C., mayor Marion Barry easily held off four challengers seeking his city council seat in the Democratic
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— Wisconsin Republican Rep.
Jim Sensenbrenner — the state's
only incumbent U.S. House member to face a primary challenge easily secured his nomination.
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