By Joint Press Corps, Yoon Won-sup, Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporters
PYONGYANG _ North Korean leader Kim Jong-il showed his unique sense of humor to the world again at summit talks with President Roh Moo-hyun Wednesday in Pyongyang.
When Roh expressed his appreciation for Kim's personal greeting on his arrival in Pyongyang, Tuesday, Kim jokingly said he went out to greet Roh because he was not a ``patient.''
``I appreciated Pyongyang residents' warm welcoming when we arrived in Pyongyang yesterday,'' Roh said at the beginning of the talks. ``I particularly appreciated chairman (Kim)'s personal greeting.''
In reply, Kim said, ``The President comes (from the South) and I can't stay at home idle because I am not a patient.''
Officials of the two Koreas present at the talks laughed at Kim's sense of humor.
Meanwhile, the reclusive leader's remark about not being a patient has more meaning than a joke.
Kim, 65, suffers from diabetes and related diseases, and the news media have long tried to find out the truth about his health status. Kim's reserved and unemotional appearance along with his unsteady posture on Tuesday in greeting Roh, raised questions from the media. Some doctors said that Kim's older than his age appearance was due to his having a number of illnesses.
Compared to his appearance at the first inter-Korean summit in June 2000, Kim's health seems to have declined. He has lost some hair and gained more wrinkles. As he walked, he leaned backward, perhaps due to added abdominal fat.
Well aware of suspicious reports on his health, Kim appeared to rebut these with the joke.
Kim Jong-il's sense of humor was similarly witnessed at the first inter-Korean summit in June 2000 when then President Kim Dae-jung visited Pyongyang.
Kim Jong-il told the Nobel Peace Prize winner that European people thought of him as a reclusive man, but that the President's visit to Pyongyang freed him of that reclusive image.
The sense of humor is characteristic of Kim's intention to counter his negative image held in the outside world. Kim gives the impression that he accepts such negative things by mentioning them so that he can show himself as an ``open man.''