French Doctor Denies He Is Kim Jong-il’s Physician

A French brain surgeon, who is suspected to have treated ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang, denied having visited North Korea for that purpose.

"I don't know," Francois-Xavier Roux, 57, said, when approached by The Associated Press for confirmation of Japanese Fuji TV footage. The film showed a person, resembling Roux, boarding Air China flight CA121 heading for Pyongyang.

"I am not very sure what these images correspond to," he was quoted by the news agency Friday.

Roux, who came to Beijing last week, however, acknowledged that he had used a car belonging to North Korean’s mission to UNESCO in France to go to the airport for his depart ure for Beijing. He said his visit to Beijing this time was to attend a medical conference.

Roux alleged that his use of the North Korea car happened by chance. "I think they were coming to collect someone, and so they kindly asked me if it would be of help to me if they dropped me off, because I have regular contacts with them and because two or three days earlier I had seen a Korean," Roux told AP.

Roux has been visiting North Korea for 15 years for lectures and surgery demonstrations, according to him. He last visited North Korea in April this year.

As for the “Korean,” he said that his last name is “Kim,” and visits Roux for health checkup once a year, adding the person didn’t introduce himself as Kim Jong-il’s son, and they didn’t discuss the health of the North Korean leader either.

Early last week, the same Japanese Fuji TV reported that Kim Jong-il’s eldest son had likely flown to Paris and met with a neurosurgeon to treat his father.

Roux said if he had been recruited by the North for such a purpose, he most likely would be unable to talk about it, adding "That is not the case."

Meanwhile, quoting a French radio, SBS Saturday said Roux denied he was currently in Pyongyang. “I am not in Pyongyang. If so, you cannot call me on my mobile phone.” On the question whether he treated Kim Jong-il, the French doctor said, “I cannot answer.”